To read or not to read
by vega-48
Summary: 4 muggles, and 14 witches and wizards reading the Harry Potter series. This is my first story, I'm not really good at summaries, so sorry. Please read.
1. The Boy Who Lived

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters or books. Everything belongs to J.K Rowling.**

**Mariah Frazier, Katarina Wallace, Shelby Jacob and Kaitlyn Lujan are my characters.**

"Wow! Where are we?" asked Mariah Frazier, a brown haired, honey brown eyed, artistic girl. "I'm not sure," said Katarina Wallace, A.K.A Kat, a red haired, hazel eyed, sporty girl. "Hey check out the creepy abandoned building. If it's this close to my house then it would be perfect for a Plaid Potato sketch," said Shelby Jacob, a brown haired, green eyed, artistic girl. "Let's go in," said Kaitlyn Lujan, a dark brown haired, chocolate brown eyed, surfer girl.

"What? Look at that sign. It says 'Danger! Keep away!'" said Kat. "What's life with out a little adventure?" asked Shelby. "Alright, fine. But if it starts to cave in or you fall through the floor I'm totally going to say I told you so!" said Kat.

"Kat, do you get the feeling that this place is some what familiar?" asked Mariah. "Now that you mention it, yeah I do. I wonder why though. I've never been here before." The house, well castle, did look familiar. It was rundown and abandoned but there was something that she couldn't quite put her finger on. The four walked up to the building and pushed open the door and was amazed at what they saw. "I got it!" yelled Mariah and Kat. "But how did we get here?" asked Shelby. "What are you three going on about?" asked Katy. "HOGWARTS!" they all said together.

Just then four boys came down the staircase, three were laughing. "Girls," said Kat. "Not only have we been transported to Hogwarts, but also we have went back in time!" "What?" asked Katy. "How do you know?" asked Mariah. "Look! James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew, in their days at Hogwarts.

Up on the staircase James, Sirius and Peter were laughing. "That was great. Did you get the look on Evans' face?" asked Sirius. "Yes, it was great!" said James. "You know Prongs," said Remus, "if you want Lily to go out with you, you should probably start being nice. Not playing pranks on her, don't be a git, deflate your head a little. You know be the exact opposite of what she thinks you are." "Check it out!" said Sirius. "New chicks!"

"Really Padfoot?" the girls heard Remus say and they looked up. "Whoa! They're muggles," said Peter. "I thought muggles couldn't see Hogwarts," said James. "They're not supposed to," said Remus. "Go get Minnie," said Sirius.

"Uh-oh," the girls said together. "Mariah they are getting McGonagall," said Kat. "Sweet!" "No not sweet. How are we supposed to explain why we are here, without getting booted out?" "Oh yeah." "Guys! Wait!" "Why? You shouldn't be here. You aren't witches." "No but we can out-bitch Lily, James." Said Kat. "How do you know mine and Evans' names?" "Oh we know both of yours, Remus', Sirius', Peter's and many more. We know you were about to go get Minerva McGonagall A.K.A Minnie, you hate Severus Snape A.K.A Snivellous. And we know what is going to happen to you four, Lily, Alice and Frank Longbottom. And we know who wins the war. What else do you need to know?" "How do you know?" "We have our ways. Now we need to talk to Albus Dumbledore, and Minerva McGonagall. We'll tell you all of the mentioned people what and how we know. You need to get Lily, Alice, Frank, Severus, yes Severus, and yourselves, plus Dumbledore and McGonagall. Sirius and Remus will take us to the Room of Requirement," said Mariah.

"JAMES HAROLD POTTER! You are soooo DEAD!" Lily Evans came down the stairs with green slime covering her. Alice was right behind her trying not to laugh. Mariah looked into the Great Hall, "Crap! McGonagall's coming, guys let's go." James pulled out a cloak and threw it over the girls, "be quiet and stay out of the way." "James Potter! Why can't I get this goop off me?" James pulled out his wand, waved it and the slime was gone. "Happy Lily Evans? All you had to do was ask." "Oh, thanks I guess."

"What is going on out here?" asked McGonagall, her lips were in a very thin line. "Oh it was nothing Professor. James just put a tickle spell on me earlier." Everyone looked at Lily, she used James' name and she got him out of trouble. That was unheard of. "Alright fine. But that is no reason to be yelling in the halls Ms. Evans." McGonagall turned around and walked back into the hall.

"James! How could you let her go back into the hall? We need her," Mariah said. "Oh be quiet. I have a plan. By the way what are your names?" "Oh I'm Mariah Frazier, this is Kaitlyn Lujan, Katy for short. That is Shelby Jacob. And that is Katarina Wallace, Kat or Kitty for short." "Don't call me Kitty. Only these 3 have permission to call me Kitty. And if you do, I will pleasantly make you regret it. See I don't need a wand to hurt someone." "How would you make us regret it?" asked Sirius. "Call me Kitty and find out. Here's a hint: I've made a couple of boys sing soprano for a while." All the boys cringed at that.

"Uhm, we know your names, but who are you exactly?" asked Lily. "Oh, we're muggles from the future and we know all about you and your world, and we know everything that will happen to you guys." Lily just stared at them open mouthed. "So James, what's your plan?" asked Shelby. "Oh Lily will get Snape because he would do anything for her, Remus will get Dumbledore and McGonagall because they are apt to believe him before Sirius or I, and Alice will get Frank. Sirius, Peter and I will take you four to the Room of Requirement. Once Lily, Alice and Remus get their people, they will take them to the Room of Requirement. "Why do I have to get Snape? I don't want to talk to him anymore," said Lily. "Lily, trust me, I think you will forgive him after we explain everything," said Kaitlyn. Mariah, Kat, and Shelby stared at Kaitlyn. "You read the books?" Mariah asked in undertone so only the girls could hear. "Don't be silly. I saw the movies, and learned a lot listening to you three." "Oh okay."

While those four were having their own conversation, the other six were talking as well. James was beaming. "Hey Evans, I was under the impression that you could only say my first name when you were yelling at me. Also you got me out of trouble. That's unheard of from a prefect, let alone Lily Evans." "Oh don't worry, it doesn't come without payback." James automatically paled at these words. When Lily got revenge she went full out.

Sirius had been staring at Mariah the whole time. Lily turned to see who he was staring at, "Oh that poor girl, she's going to be played by the main player himself. Honestly Sirius, do you really like anything that walks on two legs?" "Lily, Lily, Lily, don't be silly. Just anything with boo-" "Sirius don't you dare finish that sentence."

"Alright girls, let's go and you three go get your intended targets." Remus, Lily and Alice walked into the Great Hall, while the others headed up the Grand Staircase.

When they got to the Room of Requirement, they all went and stood around the fireplace. It was the middle of October, the 18 to be exact, but it was already chilly inside the castle.

"So you girls know everything about us. Can you prove it?" "Yes we can," said Katy. "You three are animaguses. James is a stag, Sirius is a dog, and Peter is a rat. You became animaguses because Remus is a werewolf. That leads to your nicknames, Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs. You created the Marauders Map, a map of Hogwarts that show where everyone is and what they are doing. You enchanted it so that it updates itself every year." "Okay so you do know everything."

Every one else entered. Snape looked mad (as usual), McGonagall looked exactly like she had earlier, and Dumbledore had a twinkle in his eyes and a smile on his face. "Why did you bring those girls here? How do you know that they are from the future?" asked McGonagall. "Well, they just listed a whole lot of stuff about us that no one else knows."

That second there was a sound that sounded like a gunshot and everyone jumped. They turned around and there stood a man that looked exactly like James, a tall red headed man, a bushy brown haired girl and a tall brown curly haired man. The marauders, Lily, Alice, Frank and the two professors pulled out their wands and pointed them at the new comers. "Whoa! You're quick on the draw there but put you're wands down," said the man that looked like James. "Not until we know that you're not Death Eaters," said Sirius. "They're not," said Mariah. "They're part of your futures," said Kat. The four new comers just stared at Kat. "How do you know that?" asked the red head. "Three of us have read the books that Hermione's holding, and all of us have seen the movies." "Wait, so everyone who has read the books and/or seen the movies, know about us and witches and wizards." "Yeah but everyone believes that it's fiction," said Shelby. "Even if we told anyone about you, which we won't, they would believe we were crazy and send us to the loony bin." "Shelby you are already halfway there, no offense or anything. But everyone in the world, almost, has read these books or seen these movies, but no one thinks it's true." "But this is how we will explain everything, but could we stay until you're done reading the books? Then we need your help to get back to our time and place."

"But first there are some introductions that need to be attended to here," said Dumbledore. "Oh, I'm Shelby Jacob." "Kaitlyn Lujan, call me Katy." "I'm Mariah Frazier." "Katarina Wallace, call me Kat. Sirius I swear if you call me Kitty, you will regret it." "I'm Ron Weasley." "Neville Longbottom." "Hermione Granger." "I'm Harry." "Do we need to introduce ourselves?" "No we already know who you are."

Lily walked over to see what the books were: "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone; Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets; Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban; Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire; Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix; Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince; and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Sounds like someone related to you Potter." "Ah Lily, I thought we were past using surnames." "We are, I'm just still mad at you from this morning's prank."

Harry looked back and forth between his parents. It will be a very nasty shock when they find out that they get married and have a kid after school, then die a year later.

Sirius had been watching Harry, and couldn't help but notice the similarities between James and Harry. There was one difference though and he couldn't quite place it. "Hey Harry, what's your last name?" "Uhm, it's Potter." He said whilst looking at his feet. "You're the kid from the book, and James' son, aren't you?" "Yeah," James just stared at Harry. His hair stood up in the same places, he was tall and skinny, he even wore the same glasses. That's when he noticed Harry's eyes; they were the same color and shape as Lily's. "If you're my son, who's your mother?" Harry looked at right at Lily, "You'll find out later who it is."

"Shall we read the books then?" asked James. "Yes!" Just then four couches showed up, and two chairs. "Alright this is how we will be seated," said Kat. "Lily, James, Harry and Remus on one couch, Sirius and Peter in the two chairs, McGonagall, Dumbledore, Snape, and Hermione on one of the couches, Alice, Frank, Neville, and Ron and one couch, and the four of us on the last couch. There is a reason for sitting this way, you'll understand later. Who wants to start reading?" "I will," said Hermione.

**The Boy Who Lived**

**Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense. Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills.**

**He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache.**

"Sounds like he needs to lose some weight!" said Sirius

**Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors. **

"Sounds like my sister," said Lily.

**The Dursley's had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere. The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years; in fact Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for –nothing husband, were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be. The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.**

"A child like what?" asked James. "If it's my son, then where's the problem?"

**When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on a dull, gray Tuesday, our story starts. There was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair. None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window. At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye, but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls. "Little tyke," chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house. He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive. **

**It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar—a cat reading a map.**

"It's an Animagus, stupid," said Peter.

**For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen—then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. What could he have he been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive—no **_**looking**_** at the sign; cats couldn't read maps **_**or**_** signs. Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.**

"Wow, this is a boring family," said Remus. "You have no idea," said Harry.

**But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks. Mr. Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes—the getups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdoes standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. **

**Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak!**

**The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt—these people were obviously collecting for something…yes that would be it. The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings parking lot, his mind back on drills. **

"What's the matter with cloaks?" asked Frank.

**Mr. Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. **_**He **_**didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead. Most of them had never seen an owl even at nighttime. Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more. **

"Yes sounds like a very good morning." Said Alice, sarcasm dripping off every word.

**He was in a very good until lunchtime, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the bakery. He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy.**

**This bunch was whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying. **

**"The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard-" **

**"—yes, their son, Harry-"**

**Mr. Dursley stopped dead. Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it. **

**He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office,**

"That must have been a funny sight," said James.

**snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone, and had almost finished dialing his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his mustache, thinking…no, he was being stupid. **

**Potter wasn't such an unusual name.**

**He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew **_**was**_** called Harry. He'd never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold.**

"That's horrible, I would never name my son Harvey or Harold," yelled James.

**There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her—if he'd had a sister like that…** **but all the same, those people in cloaks…**

**He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building at five o' clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.**

"**Sorry," he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passerby stare, "Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!" **

**And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle.**

"That must have really freaked him out," said Lily, while everyone else was laughing.

**Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination. **

**As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw—and it didn't improve his mood—was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes. **

"Hey Minnie it's you," said James. "Bet you it's not," said Sirius. "You're on. 10 galleons."

**"Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly. **

"Yeah cause that would help," said Remus, rolling his eyes.

**The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look.**

**Was this normal cat behavior? Mr. Dursley wondered. **

"Yes Dursley, that is normal cat behavior," said McGonagall.

**Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife. **

**Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door Neighbor's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learned a new word (Won't).**

"Brat," said James and Lily. Everyone burst out laughing at this.

**Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room in time to catch the last report on the evening news: **

"_**And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern." The newscaster allowed himself a grin. "Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?" **_

"_**Well, Ted," said the weatherman,**_

_**"I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early — it's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight." **_

**Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper of the Potters…**

**Mrs. Dursley came into the living room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. "Er—Petunia,**

"That's my sister!" said Lily. No one, except McGonagall and Dumbledore, put 2 and 2 together to get that, that meant Lily married James but Lily looked at Harry with realization, she pointed at Harry and then herself. Harry nodded. No one saw their little exchange. Lily just looked at James, she couldn't believe it, she would marry James, and have a kid with him.

**Dear—you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?" As he expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister. **

"**No," she said sharply. "Why?"**

"**Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls…shooting stars…and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today…"**

"_**So?**_**" snapped Mrs. Dursley. **

"**Well, I just thought…maybe…it was something to do with…you know…**_**her**_** crowd." **

**Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name "Potter." He decided he didn't dare. **

"Coward," said James.

**Instead he said as casually as he could, "Their son—he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?"**

**"I suppose so," Mrs. Dursley said stiffly. **

**"What's his name again? Howard, isn't it?**

**"Harry. Nasty common name if you ask me." **

"It is not!" yelled Lily and James.

**"Oh, yes," said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree." **

**He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there. It was staring down Privet Drive as though it were waiting for something. **

**Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did…if it got out that they were related to a pair of—well, he didn't think he could bear it. **

**The Dursleys got into bed. Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr. Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters were involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs. Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind…He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on—he yawned and turned over—it couldn't affect **_**them**_**…**

**How very wrong he was.**

"Why doesn't that sound good?" asked Sirius.

**Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed on the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all. **

**A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground. The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed. **

"Yep that's McGonagall," said James.

**Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man's name was Albus Dumbledore. **

"That is a very good description," said Dumbledore. "Who wrote this?" "J.K Rowling," said Harry. "I wonder if I've met her."

**Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome. He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known." **

**He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop. **

"Sweet! I want one," said James. "Yeah right, no one in their right mind would give you something like that. You wreak havoc enough with the lights on. With the lights off who knows what you four would do."

**He clicked it again—the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, until the only lights left on the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it. **

**"Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."**

"I told you so! Pay up Sirius!" said James.

**He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled. "How did you know it was me?" she asked. **

**"My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly. **

**"You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on brick wall all day." said Professor McGonagall. **

"**All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here." **

"How can you do that when you apparate?" asked Lily. "It's Dumbledore," said James.

**Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily. **

"**Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently. "You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no—even the Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news." She jerked her head back at the Dursley's dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls…shooting stars…Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent—I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense." **

"**You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years." **

"**I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumors."**

**She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really **_**has**_** gone, Dumbledore?" **

"Voldemort is gone?" asked Lily. Everyone from the past cheered, everyone from the future looked at each other, they were in for a nasty surprise.

"**It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore. "We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?" **

"**A **_**what**_**?"**

"**A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of."**

"**No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly as though she didn't think this was the moment for lemon drops. "As I say, even if You-Know-Who **_**has **_**gone-"**

**"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this 'You-Know-Who' nonsense—for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: **_**Voldemort**_**." **

**Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name." **

**"I know you haven't." said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admirable. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know-oh, all right, **_**Voldemort**_** was frightened of." **

**"You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have." **

"Only because you won't use them," said Lily.

**"Only because you're too—well—**_**noble**_** to use them." **

"Ha-ha, you and McGonagall think alike Lily," said James.

**"It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs." **

Everyone burst out laughing.

**Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing compared to the rumors that are flying around. You know what they're saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?**

**It seemed that McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer. **

**"What they're saying," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went looking for the Potters.**

**The rumor is that Lily and James Potter are—are—that they're—**_**dead**_**." **

"WHAT? I'm dead? Lily and I are dead? I finally manage to catch her heart and I die?" James was so shocked that he couldn't even gloat about the fact that he married Lily. Harry wrapped his arms around Lily who was sobbing. James got up and walked around to the other side of Lily and he wrapped both of his arms and the small family just sat there for a little while. Sirius couldn't even say anything. He set a record for himself, he was quiet for 5 whole minutes before he even said anything. "How… But if Lily and James... Wouldn't he have gotten rid of Harry too?"

**Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped. **

**"Lily and James…I can't believe it…I didn't want to believe it…Oh, Albus…"**

"I guess you did like me then, huh Minnie?" asked James.

**Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know…I know…" he said heavily. **

**Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's son, Harry. But he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke—and that's why he's gone." **

"He couldn't kill you? But how? I mean how old were you?" asked Lily. "I was one when this happened." "Then how did this happen?" "That all gets explained later on," said Harry.

**Dumbledore nodded glumly. **

**"It's—it's **_**true**_**?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done…all the people he's killed…he couldn't kill a little boy? It's just astounding…of all the things to stop him…but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?" **

**"We can only guess." said Dumbledore. "We may never know." **

"But you always know Albus," said McGonagall. "Has the world gone mad?"

**Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?" **

"You had Hagrid bring him? Can you trust Hagrid with a baby?" asked McGonagall. "I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore, James and Lily nodded.

**"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me **_**why**_** you're here, of all places?" **

**"I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left now."**

"Where am I? Where is Remus?" asked Sirius. "Sirius you were- shall we say- tied up and I don't meet Remus until "Harry Potter and the _**Prisoner of Azkaban."**_ Said Harry, trying to give Sirius a hint as to where he is, but Remus caught on.

**"You don't mean—you **_**can't**_** mean the people who live **_**here**_**?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. "Dumbledore—you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son—I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!" **

**"It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter."**

"You think that a letter is going to explain everything, this is my sister we are talking about," said Lily. "You might as well leave him in the dark. She hates magic, she won't tell him shit!" Everyone looked at Lily, she never cussed.

**"A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter? These people will never understand him! He'll be famous—a legend—I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter Day in the future—there will be books written about Harry—every child in our world will know his name!" **

**"Exactly." said Dumbledore, looking very serious over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?" **

**Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and then said, "Yes—yes, you're right, of course. But how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore?" She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it. **

**"Hagrid's bringing him." **

**"You think it—**_**wise**_**—to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?" **

**"I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore. **

"**I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to—what was that?" **

**A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky—and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them. **

**If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild—long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets. **

**"Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorcycle?" **

**"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. I've got him, sir."**

"Sweet, I have a flying motorcycle!" said Sirius.

**"No problems, were there?" **

**"No sir—house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol." **

**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning. **

**"Is that where-?" whispered Professor McGonagall.**

**"Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll that scar forever." **

**"Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?" **

**"Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground.**

Leave it to Dumbledore to lighten the mood.

"**Well—give him here, Hagrid—we'd better get this over with." **

**Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned toward the Dursleys' house. **

"**Could I—could I say good-bye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog. **

"Ahh, Hagrid likes you Harry," said James.

"**Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall. "You'll wake the Muggles!" **

"**S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it—Lily an' James dead—an' poor Harry off ter live with Muggles-" **

"**Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets, and then came back to the other two.**

"YOU LEFT HIM ON A DOORSTEP?" Lily looked murderous, she stood up advancing at Dumbledore, but Harry and James grabbed her and pulled her back to the couch. "Mum! It's fine, anyway it wasn't him, it was the future Dumbledore."

**For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out. **

"**Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."**

"**Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I best get this bike away. G'night Professor McGonagall—Professor Dumbledore, sir." **

**Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night. **

**"I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply. **

**Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. **

**He clicked it once and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out the tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four. **

**"Good luck, Harry," he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone. **

**A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him as he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley…He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter—the boy who lived!" **

"That's the end of the chapter. Who wants to read next?" asked Hermione. "I will," said McGonagall.


	2. The Vanishing Glass

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters or books. Everything belongs to J.K Rowling.**

**Mariah Frazier, Katarina Wallace, Shelby Jacob and Kaitlyn Lujan are my characters.**

**The Vanishing Glass**

Harry, Ron and Hermione looked away from each other to avoid laughing.

**Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but ****Privet Drive**** had hardly changed at all. **

"Are they treating you nice Harry?" asked James, "because if not the year I marry Lily, I will lay down the law with them!"

**The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursleys' front door; it crept into their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr. Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls.**

**Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed. Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-colored bonnets — but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother.**

"Ha-ha! Momma's boy! Momma's boy!" The Marauders shouted together. Everyone burst out laughing at their antics.

**The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too. **

"Why not? Where are you at Harry?" asked Sirius.

**Yet Harry Potter was still there,**

"If you are still there, how come there are no pictures?" asked Remus. "You'll see why in well the next paragraph."

**asleep at the moment, but not for long. His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day. **

"**Up! Get up! Now!" **

"That is a lovely thing to hear first thing in the morning. I love being woken up by high-pitched squeals." Said Sirius.

**Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again. **

"**Up!" she screeched. Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. He rolled onto his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it. He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before.**

"How does he remember that? I don't remember anything up until I was 6 years old!" said Kat.

**His aunt was back outside the door. **

"**Are you up yet?" she demanded. **

"**Nearly," said Harry. **

"**Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday."**

"Why can't she cook?" asked Lily. "She's actually a really good cook."

**Harry groaned. **

"She's not going to like that," said James.

"**What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door. **

"**Nothing, nothing…" **

**Dudley****'s birthday — how could he have forgotten? Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider** **off one of them, put them on. Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept. **

"I'M GOING TO KILL HER!" yelled James and Lily.

**When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all ****Dudley****'s birthday presents. It looked as though ****Dudley**** had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike.**

"Why would he want a racing bike? He's a fat porker! He probably broke it the first time he rode the bike," said Sirius. Harry nodded, "He did. I was laughing my as- butt off, I had to clean the whole house for that."

**Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise — unless of course it involved punching somebody.**

**Dudley's favorite punching bag was Harry, but he couldn't often catch him. Harry didn't look it, but he was very fast**.

Lily looked furious, she knew where her sister lived, when this year was over, she was going to take her sister's head off. "If she lets that son of hers touch a single hair on his head I will kill her! I mean it, I will kill her." Said Sirius, "they might as well get a cell in Azkaban ready for me!" Again Harry, Ron and Hermione had to look away to keep from laughing at how close he was.

**Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age. **

"Nope, you're built exactly like your father. I've never seen anyone who could dodge a spell faster then him," said Peter.

**He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of ****Dudley****'s, and ****Dudley**** was about four times bigger than he was. Harry had a thin face, knobby knees, black hair,**

"Yep you're built exactly like James."

**and bright green eyes.**

** He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times ****Dudley**** had punched him on the nose.**

"They won't even get his glasses fixed after their son BROKE THEM!" James got up and punched the wall several times. When he sat back down Lily took his hand and fixed where the skin had broke on his knuckles.

**The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning. **

"I still don't understand how I liked that scar, it's horrible." "Remember, this was before everyone declared you famous by just looking at your scar. If you had got it in any other way, it would be pretty cool," said Ron.

**He had had it as long as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it. **

**"In the car crash when your parents died," she had said.**

"They told you that we died in a car crash, oh I swear, Petunia will be very sad she was EVER mean to you. Her great-great grandkids are going to feel the pain I release on her." Said Lily.

"**And don't ask questions." **

**Don't ask questions — that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.**

Lily and James were so mad, they were speechless.

**Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon. **

"**Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting.**

"Yeah like that will help," said James and Sirius together.

**About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut. Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way — all over the place. **

**Harry was frying eggs,** **by the time ****Dudley**** arrived in the kitchen with his mother. ****Dudley**** looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head. **

"So like a pig in a wig," James said.

**Aunt Petunia often said that ****Dudley**** looked like a baby angel — Harry often said that ****Dudley**** looked like a pig in a wig. **

"YES!" exclaimed James, earning him a questioning look from everyone else. "What?" he asked defensively, "We think alike, that's all." "Oh poor Harry, you think like your father, I'm so sorry," said Lily. Everyone started laughing because of the look on James' face. "I know, it's such a horrible thing," said Harry.

**Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His face fell. **

"**Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year." **

"They had better give you that many presents!" said James. Harry started laughing. "Ha! I was lucky if they remembered my birthday, let alone get almost 40 presents.

"**Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Mummy and Daddy." **

"**All right, thirty-seven then," said ****Dudley****, going red in the face. Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case ****Dudley**** turned the table over. **

**Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger, too, because she said quickly, "And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin? Two more presents. Is that all right?" **

**Dudley**** thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty… thirty…" **

"Wow! He's stupid," said McGonagall. Every one stared at McGonagall in amazement. She never called anyone stupid. "No he just made me do his homework. All of it," said Harry.

"**Thirty-nine, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia.**

"**Oh." ****Dudley**** sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then." Uncle Vernon chuckled. **"**Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father.'Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled ****Dudley****'s hair. **

"No he's a spoiled brat. And you are encouraging him!" said Lily. "Mum, I really don't think that he would have gotten all of those presents if I wouldn't have been there."

**At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched ****Dudley**** unwrap the racing bike, a video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR. **

"A what?" asked James. "A VCR, it's an electronic box that when you stick a VHS tape in it, it plays a movie," said Lily.

**He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch**, **when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried. **

"**Bad news, ****Vernon****," she said. "Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take him."**

"She had better not mean you!" said Lily.

**She jerked her head in Harry's direction. **

**Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, but Harry's heart gave a leap. Every year on ****Dudley****'s birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, or the movies. Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned. **

"Sounds like a lot of fun," said Remus.

"**Now what?" said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he'd planned this. Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg had broken her leg, but it wasn't easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and Tufty again. **

"**We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested. **

"**Don't be silly, ****Vernon****, she hates the boy."** **The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn't there — or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug. **

"Those horrible rotten Muggles." Sirius grumbled. "My poor, poor godson." "What do you mean godson?" asked James. "You mean I'm not his god father?" "No more like my uncle. I mean you and Dad are like brothers aren't you? I think that Remus would be my god father." "What about me?" asked Peter. "Haven't figured that out yet," said Harry.

"**What about what's-her-name, your friend — Yvonne?" **

"**On vacation in ****Majorca****," snapped Aunt Petunia. **

"**You could just leave me here," Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer).** **Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon. **

"She won't let you stay home by yourself now that you suggested it," said Lily.

"**And come back and find the house in ruins?" she snarled. **

"It's not like he's going to blow up the house," said James.

"**I won't blow up the house," said Harry, but they weren't listening.**

"Oh you poor child! You and your father do think alike," said Lily.

"**I suppose we could take him to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly, "… and leave him in the car…" **

"He's not a FREAKIN' DOG," yelled James.

"**That car's new; he's not sitting in it alone…" **

**Dudley**** began to cry loudly. In fact, he wasn't really crying — it had been years since he'd really cried — but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted. **

"**Dinky Duddydums, **

"Ha, that poor child," said Sirius. "I still think that he's a spoiled brat, but I do feel sorry for him with a name like that."

**don't cry, Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.**

"'Spoil your precious day? What is he a baby?"

"**I… don't… want… him… t-t-to come!" ****Dudley**** yelled between huge, pretend sobs. "He always sp-spoils everything!" He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mother's arms. ** **Just then, the doorbell rang — "Oh, good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically — and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. **

**Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while ****Dudley**** hit them. ****Dudley**** stopped pretending to cry at once.**

Everyone was speechless at how he acted, and the fact that Petunia bought it all.

**Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursleys' car with Piers and ****Dudley****, on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life.** **His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside.**

"**I'm warning you," he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's, "I'm warning you now, boy — any funny business, anything at all — and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas." **"**I'm not going to do anything," said Harry, "honestly…" **

**But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did.**

**The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursleys he didn't make them happen. **

**Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barbers looking as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his bangs, which she left "to hide that horrible scar." Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, who spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and taped glasses.**

**Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off. **

"Petunia's just going to hate that," said Lily.

**He had been given a week in his cupboard for this, even though he had tried to explain that he couldn't explain how it had grown back so quickly. Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old sweater of ****Dudley****'s (brown with orange puff balls). **

"Ewwwwwwwww!"

**The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a hand puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit Harry. Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished. On the other hand, he'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens.**

"You apparated? How old were you?" asked Remus.

"You must be a really powerful wizard. No one has accidentally apparated," said James.

**Dudley's gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting on the chimney. The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry's headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he'd tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard) was jump behind the big trashcans outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid-jump. But today, nothing was going to go wrong. It was even worth being with ****Dudley**** and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, his cupboard, or Mrs. Figg's cabbage-smelling living room. **

"That's just sad," said James sadly.

**While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank, and Harry were just a few of his favorite subjects. This morning, it was motorcycles.** "… **roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorcycle overtook them. **

"**I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying." **

**Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet with a mustache: "MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!" **

**Dudley**** and Piers sniggered. **

"**I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream." **

**But he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than his asking questions, it was his talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon — they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas. **

**It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys bought ****Dudley**** and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop. **

"At least they got me something," said Harry.

**It wasn't bad, either,**

"That was my favorite ice cream as a kid," said Lily. "It was mine too. At least, it was my favorite muggle ice cream," said James.

**Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond. **

Everyone burst out laughing at Harry's thought.

**Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time. He was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that ****Dudley**** and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favorite hobby of hitting him. **

**They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when ****Dudley**** had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first. **

**Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to last.**

"What do you do Harry?" asked Lily. "How do you know it was me?" asked Harry.

**After lunch they went to the reptile house. **

"Does this have something to do with 'The Vanishing Glass'?" asked James. "I don't know what you're talking about," said Harry, innocently.

**It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons. ****Dudley**** quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a trash can**— **but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep.**

**Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils. **

"**Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge. **"**Do it again," ****Dudley**** ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on. **"**This is boring," ****Dudley**** moaned. **

**He shuffled away. **

**Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself — no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up; at least he got to visit the rest of the house. **

**The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's. **

**It winked.**

"Snakes can wink?" asked Sirius.

**Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked, too. **

"Harry James Potter! What in the name of Merlin's pants are you doing?" asked Lily. "Harry James Potter?" asked James. "It sounded right." "Well that is my middle name," said Harry.

**The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly: **"**I get that all the time."**

"**I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying." **

"Why are you talking to it?" exclaimed James, "Stop it!"

"I think Harry might be a Parselmouth," Remus said quietly.

"Are you?" James asked. Harry just ignored them.

**The snake nodded vigorously. **

"You are aren't you? Otherwise the snake wouldn't be able to understand you." Stated Lily. She however, didn't care if her son was a Parselmouth, he was still a wonderful person. "But how are you a Parselmouth? I'm not," said Lily. "I know I'm not," said James, accusatorially. "You'll find out why in the next book," said Harry. "And just because I am a Parselmouth it doesn't mean anything. I'm still the same person that I have been," he added, staring at James. James looked guilty.

"**Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked. **

**The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it. **

**Boa Constrictor****, ****Brazil****.**

"**Was it nice there?" **

**The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. "Oh, I see — so you've never been to ****Brazil****?"**

**As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of them jump. "****DUDLEY****! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!" **

**Dudley**** came waddling toward them as fast as he could.**

"Haha," James laughed, "I bet he looked like a penguin!"

"**Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs. Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor. **

"Leave my son alone!" said Lily, wrapping her arms around Harry protectively.

**What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened — one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror. **

**Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished.**

**The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits. **

**As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "****Brazil****, here I come… Thanksss, amigo."** **The keeper of the reptile house was in shock. **

"I like this snake; it's very polite," said Lily.

"**But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?" **

**The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again. Piers and ****Dudley**** could only gibber. As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed,**

"I bet they over exaggerate what happened," Remus said angrily.

**but by the time they were all back in Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death. **

"Yep, they did," Remus said.

**But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry?"** **Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry. He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, "Go — cupboard — stay — no meals,"** **before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy. **

**Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had a watch. He didn't know what time it was and he couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food. **

"Way to go Harry!" yelled Sirius, "Don't let the Muggles starve you!"

**He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as he could remember, ever since he'd been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash. He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died.**

**Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead. **

"Green light?" Sirius said, surprised. "Harry, you didn't survive the _killing_ curse did you? Avada Kedavra?"

"You'll just have to wait and see," he said with a smirk.

**This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where all the green light came from. He couldn't remember his parents at all. **

Lily started crying at this.

**His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house.**

"You mean you hadn't even seen photo's before now?" Lily asked.

"Oh yeah," answered Harry, "I've seen some, but not at the Dursleys." Lily smiled in relief.

**When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened;**

"Why haven't Sirius or Remus come and got you yet?" asked James. "I'm not sure, but Sirius was other wise occupied, tied up what ever." "Well what about Peter?" "I would tell you, but that would give away a lot," said Harry.

**the Dursleys were his only family. Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers they were, too. **

**A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. After asking Harry furiously if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. A wild-looking old woman dressed all in green had waved merrily at him once on a bus. A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken his hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word. The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look. At school, Harry had no one. Everybody knew that ****Dudley****'s gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with ****Dudley****'s gang.**

"That's the end, who wants to read next?" "I will," said Sirius.


	3. The Letters From No One

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters or books. Everything belongs to J.K Rowling.**

**Mariah Frazier, Katarina Wallace, Shelby Jacob and Kaitlyn Lujan are my characters.**

**The Letters From No One**

"Ooh, you're getting your Hogwarts letter aren't you?" asked Lily. "Well, kinda, but not really. And it's plural, letters, not letter," said Harry.

**The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Harry his longest-ever punishment. By the time he was allowed out of his cupboard again, the summer holidays had started and Dudley had already broken his new video camera, crashed his remote control airplane, and, first time out on his racing bike, knocked down old Mrs. Figg as she crossed Privet Drive on her crutches. **

"Oh that poor woman, flattened by your cousin." Said Sirius, while everyone else stared at Sirius, he did know how to be sympathetic.

**Harry was glad school was over, but there was no escaping Dudley's gang, who visited the house every single day. Piers, Dennis, Malcolm, and Gordon were all big and stupid, but as ****Dudley**** was the biggest and the stupidest of the lot, he was the leader. **

Everyone was laughing at the insult. "Buuurn," yelled James and Sirius.

**The rest of them were all quite happy to join ****Dudley****'s favorite sport: Harry Hunting. **

**This was why Harry spent as much time as possible out of the house, wandering around and thinking about the end of the holidays, where he could see a tiny ray of hope. When September came he would be going off to a secondary school, and, for the first time in his life, he wouldn't be with ****Dudley****. Dudley had been accepted at Uncle Vernon's old school, Smeltings. **

"Smeltings? What kind of name is that?" asked Remus. "Well, I kind of thought the same thing about Hogwarts," said Hermione, "I mean, hogs are just disgusting, but a hog with warts. Ugh, talk about gross." Everyone laughed.

**"They stuff people's heads down the toilet the first day at Stonewall," he told Harry. "Want to come upstairs and practice?" **

**"No, thanks," said Harry. "The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it—it might be sick." Then he ran, before ****Dudley**** could work out what he'd said. **

"Buuurn, times two!" yelled James and Sirius.

**One day in July, Aunt Petunia took ****Dudley**** to ****London**** to buy his Smeltings uniform, leaving Harry at Mrs. Figg's. **

**Mrs. Figg wasn't as bad as usual. It turned out she'd broken her leg tripping over one of her cats, and she didn't seem quite as fond of them as before. She let Harry watch television and gave him a bit of chocolate cake that tasted as though she'd had it for several years. **

"Well at least you got to watch TV. The cake though, ugh," said Hermione.

**That evening, ****Dudley**** paraded around the living room for the family in his brand-new uniform. Smeltings' boys wore maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers, and flat straw hats called boaters. They also carried knobbly sticks, used for hitting each other while the teachers weren't looking. This was supposed to be good training for later in life. **

**As he looked at ****Dudley**** in his new knickerbockers, Uncle Vernon said gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life. **

"That must have been funny. Watching Dudley model. Ha," said Sirius.

**Aunt Petunia burst into tears and said she couldn't believe it was her Ickle Dudleykins, he looked so handsome and grown-up. **

**Harry didn't trust himself to speak. He thought two of his ribs might already have cracked from trying not to laugh. **

**There was a horrible smell in the kitchen the next morning when Harry went in for breakfast. It seemed to be coming from a large metal tub in the sink. He went to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in gray water. **

**"What's this?" he asked Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did if he dared ask a question. **

**"Your new school uniform," She said. **

**Harry looked in the bowl again.**

**"Oh," he said. "I didn't realize it had to be so wet." **

"You don't use sarcasm around her, shouldn't you have already learned that?" asked Lily.

**"Don't be stupid," snapped Aunt Petunia. "I'm dying some of ****Dudley****'s old things gray for you. It'll look just like everyone else's when I've finished."**

**Harry seriously doubted this, but thought it best not to argue. He sat down at the table and tried not to think about how he was going to look on his first day at Stonewall High—like he was wearing bits of old elephant skin, probably. **

**Dudley and Uncle Vernon came in, both with wrinkled noses because of the smell from Harry's new uniform. Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper as usual and ****Dudley**** banged his Smelting stick, which he carried everywhere, on the table. **

**They heard the click of the mail slot and flop of letters on the doormat. **

**"Get the mail, ****Dudley****," said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper.**

**"Make Harry get it." **

**"Get the mail, Harry."**

**"Make ****Dudley**** get it." **

**"Poke him with your Smelting stick, ****Dudley****." **

"That's productive and great training for later on in life: Don't get your way, poke someone with a stick," said Sirius.

**Harry dodged the Smelting stick and went to get the mail. Three things lay on the doormat: a postcard from Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge, who was vacationing on the ****Isle of Wight****, a brown envelope that looked like a bill and— a_ letter for Harry_. **

**Harry picked it up and stared at it, his heart twanging like a giant elastic band. No one, ever, in his whole life, had written to him. Who would? **

**He had no friends, no other relatives—he didn't belong to the library, so he'd never even got rude notes asking for books back. Yet here it was, a letter, addressed so plainly there could be no mistake:**

**_Mr. H. Potter_**

**_The Cupboard under the Stairs _****_4 Privet Drive_******

**_Little Whinging_**

**_Surrey_******

"YAY! You got your letter!" said Sirius.

**The envelope was thick and heavy, made of a yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink. There was no stamp. **

**Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake surrounding a large letter _H_. **  
**"Hurry up, boy!" shouted Uncle Vernon from the kitchen. "What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?" He chuckled at his own joke. **

**Harry went back to the kitchen, still staring at his letter. He handed Uncle Vernon the bill and the postcard, sat down, and slowly began to open the yellow envelope. **

**Uncle Vernon ripped open the bill, snorted in disgust, and flipped over the postcard. **

**"Marge's ill," he informed Aunt Petunia. "Ate a funny whelk…" **

**"Dad!" said ****Dudley**** suddenly. "Dad, Harry's got something!" **

"Shut up! Leave him to his letter!" yelled James.

**Harry was on the point of unfolding his letter, which was written in the same heavy parchment as the envelope, when it was jerked sharply out of his hand by Uncle Vernon.**

**"That's _mine_!" said Harry, trying to snatch it back. **

"Give him back his letter, you big white whale!" yelled James.

**"Who'd be writing to you?" sneered Uncle Vernon, shaking the letter open with one hand and glancing at it. His face went from red to green faster than a set of traffic lights. And it didn't stop there. Within seconds it was the grayish white of old porridge. **

**"P-P-Petunia!" he gasped.**

**Dudley tried to grab the letter to read it, but Uncle Vernon held it high out of his reach. Aunt Petunia took it curiously and read the first line. For a moment it looked as though she might faint.**

"The brat finally didn't get what he wanted, it's a miracle!" said Sirius.

**She clutched her throat and made a choking noise.**

**"****Vernon****! Oh my goodness—****Vernon****!" **

**They stared at each other, seeming to have forgotten that Harry and Dudley were still in the room. ****Dudley**** wasn't used to being ignored. He gave his father a sharp tap on the head with his Smelting stick. **

**"I want to read that letter," he said loudly. **

**"_I _want to read it," said Harry furiously, "as it's _mine_." **

**"Get out, both of you," croaked Uncle Vernon, stuffing the letter back inside its envelope.**

**Harry didn't move. **

**"I WANT MY LETTER!" he shouted. **

**"Let _me_ see it!" demanded ****Dudley****. **

"Why does he care so much, I mean really, it doesn't concern him," said Ron.

**"OUT!" roared Uncle Vernon and he took both Harry and Dudley by the scruffs of their necks and threw them into the hall, slamming the kitchen door behind them. Harry and Dudley promptly had furious but silent fight over who would listen at the keyhole; Dudley won, so Harry, his glasses dangling from one ear, lay flat on his stomach to listen at the crack between door and floor. **

**"Vernon," Aunt Petunia was saying in a quivering voice, "look at the address-how could they possibly know where he sleeps? You don't think they're watching the house?" **

**"Watching—spying—might be following us," muttered Uncle Vernon wildly. **

"Well aren't we a bit conceded?" asked Sirius. "Yes, yes you two are," said Remus.

**"But what should we do, ****Vernon****? Should we write back? Tell them we don't want-"**

**Harry could see Uncle Vernon's shiny black shoes pacing up and down the kitchen. **

**"No," he said finally. "No, we'll ignore it. If they don't get an answer…Yes, that's best…we won't do anything…" **

"Yes because that will totally help with Harry Potter," said Ron.

**"But-"**

**"I'm not having one in the house, Petunia! Didn't we swear when we took him in we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense?" **

**That evening when he got back from work, Uncle Vernon did something he'd never done before; he visited Harry in his cupboard. **

"Wow, is that a good thing or a bad thing?" asked Lily.

**"Where's my letter?" said Harry, the moment Uncle Vernon had squeezed through the door. "Who's writing to me?" **

**"No one. It was addressed to you by mistake," said Uncle Vernon shortly. "I have burned it." **

**"It was _not_ a mistake," said Harry angrily," it had my cupboard on it." **

**"SILENCE!" yelled Uncle Vernon, and a couple of spiders fell from the ceiling. **

Ron shuddered.

**He took a few deep breaths and then forced his face into a smile, which looked quite painful. **

**"Er—yes, Harry—about this cupboard.**

**Your aunt and I have been thinking…you're really getting to big for it…we think it might be nice if you moved into ****Dudley****'s second bedroom."**

**"Why?" said Harry.**

"'Why' Harry do you really question everything?" asked Ron. "Well I learned young that if something sounds to good to be true it usually is, so question it."

**"Don't ask questions!" snapped his uncle. "Take this stuff upstairs, now." **

**The Dursleys' house had four bedrooms: one for Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, one for visitors (usually Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge),** **one where ****Dudley**** slept and one where ****Dudley**** kept all the toys and things that wouldn't fit into his first bedroom. **

**It only took Harry one trip upstairs to move everything he owned from the cupboard to this room.** **He sat down on the bed and stared around him. Nearly everything in here was broken. The month-old video camera was lying on top of a small, working tank Dudley had once driven over the next door neighbor's dog; in the corner was Dudley's first-ever television set, which he'd put his foot through when his favorite program had been canceled; there was a large birdcage, which had once held a parrot that Dudley had swapped for a real rifle, which was up on a shelf with the end all bent because Dudley had sat on it. Other shelves were full of books. They were the only things in the room that looked as though they'd never been touched. **

"Go figure," said McGonagall.

**From downstairs came the sound of Dudley bawling at his mother, "I don't _want _him in there…I _need_ that room…make him get out…"**

**Harry sighed and stretched out on the bed. Yesterday he'd have given anything to be up here. Today he'd rather be back in his cupboard with that letter than up here without it. **

**Next morning at breakfast, everyone was rather quiet. ****Dudley**** was in shock. He'd screamed, whacked his father with his Smelting stick, been sick on purpose, kicked his mother, and thrown his tortoise through the greenhouse roof, and he still didn't have his room back. Harry was thinking about this time yesterday and bitterly wishing he'd opened the letter in the hall. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia kept looking at each other darkly. **

"What a spoiled little boy, he needs some manners lessons," said Sirius. "Yes Sirius, cause you're one to talk."

**When the mail arrived, Uncle Vernon, who seemed to be trying to be nice to Harry, made ****Dudley**** go get it. **

**They heard him banging things with his Smelting stick all the way down the hall. Then he shouted, "There's another one! Mister H. Potter, the Smallest Bedroom, ****4 Privet Drive-****"**

**With a strangled cry, Uncle Vernon leapt from his seat and ran down the hall, Harry right behind him. Uncle Vernon had to wrestle ****Dudley**** to the ground to get the letter from him, which was made difficult by the fact that Harry had grabbed Uncle Vernon around the neck from behind. **

"Go Harry! Go Harry! Go Harry!" Everyone was yelling.

**After a minute of confused fighting, in which everyone got hit a lot by the Smelting stick, Uncle Vernon straightened up, gasping for breath, with Harry's letter clutched in his hand.**

**"Go to your cupboard—I mean your bedroom," he wheezed at Harry. "****Dudley****—go—just go." **

**Harry walked round and round his new room. Someone knew he had moved out of his cupboard and they seemed to know he hadn't received his first letter. Surely that meant they'd try again? And this time he'd make sure they didn't fail. He had a plan. **

**The repaired alarm clock rang at ****six o'clock**** the next morning. Harry turned it off quickly and dressed silently. He mustn't wake the Dursleys' He stole downstairs without turning on any lights. **

**He was going to wait for the postman on the corner of ****Privet Drive**** and get his letters for number four first. His heart hammered as he crept across the dark hall toward the front door-**

"**AAAAARRRGH!"**

"Didn't see that coming," said James, sarcastically.

**Harry leapt into the air; he'd trodden on something big and squashy on the doormat—something _alive_!**

**Lights clicked on upstairs and to his horror Harry realized that the big, squashy something had been his uncle's face. Uncle Vernon had been lying at the foot of the front door in a sleeping bag, clearly making sure that Harry didn't do exactly what he'd been trying to do. He shouted at Harry for about half and hour and then told him to go and make a cup tea. Harry shuffled miserably off into the kitchen and by the time he got back, the mail had arrived, right into Uncle Vernon's lap, Harry could see three letters addressed in green ink.**

"**I want-" he began, but Uncle Vernon was tearing the letters into pieces before his eyes. **

**Uncle Vernon didn't go to work that day. He stayed at home and nailed up the mail slot. **

"That took all day? I mean even with out magic, I could get that done in 30 minutes," said Shelby. "No, you would get it done in an hour. You would have to stop and fix your finger where you smashed it with a hammer, 3 or 4 times," said Kaitlyn.

"**See," he explained to Aunt Petunia through a mouthful of nails, "if they can't _deliver_ them they'll just give up."**

"**I'm not sure that'll work, ****Vernon****." **

"Listen to Petunia, she knows more about the wizard world than you," said Lily.

"**Oh, these people's minds work in strange ways, Petunia, they're not like you and me," said Uncle Vernon, trying to knock a nail in with the piece of fruitcake Aunt Petunia had just brought him. **

**On Friday, no less than twelve letters arrived for Harry. As they couldn't go through the mail slot they had been pushed under the door, slotted through the sides, and a few even forced through the small window in the downstairs bathroom. **

**Uncle Vernon stayed at home again. After burning all the letters, he got out a hammer and nails and boarded up the cracks around the front and back doors so no one could get out. He hummed "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" as he worked, and jumped at small noises. **

"Wow, someone send him to the loony bin," said James.

**On Saturday, things began to get out of hand. Twenty-four letters to Harry found their way into the house, rolled up and hidden inside each of the two-dozen eggs that their very confused milkman had handed Aunt Petunia through the living room window. While Uncle Vernon made furious telephone calls to the post office and the dairy trying to find someone to complain to, Aunt Petunia shredded the letters in her food processor. **

"**Who on earth wants to talk to you this badly?" ****Dudley**** asked Harry in amazement.**

**On Sunday morning, Uncle Vernon sat down at the breakfast table looking tired and rather ill, but happy. **

"**No post on Sundays," he reminded them cheerfully as he spread marmalade on his newspapers, "no damn letters today-"**

**Something came whizzing down the chimney as he spoke and caught him sharply on the back of the head. Next moment, thirty or forty letters came pelting out of the fireplace like bullets. The Dursleys ducked, but Harry leapt into the air trying to catch one-**

"Why not just pick one up off the floor?" asked James. "Because everyone else ducked so, to avoid them I went up." Harry said, as if it were that obvious.

"**Out! OUT!" **

**Uncle Vernon seized Harry around the waist and threw him into the hall. When Aunt Petunia and Dudley had run out with their arms over their faces, Uncle Vernon slammed the door shut. They could hear the letters still streaming into the room, bouncing off the walls and floor. **

"**That does it," said Uncle Vernon, trying to speak calmly but pulling great tufts out of his mustache at the same time.**

"Ha! That must have been hilarious." Said Dumbledore.

** "I want you all back here in five minutes ready to leave. We're going away. Just pack some clothes. No arguments!" **

**He looked so dangerous with half his mustache missing that no one dared argue. Ten minutes later they had wrenched their way through the boarded-up doors and were in the car, speeding toward the highway. Dudley was sniffling in the back seat; his father had hit him round the head for holding them up while he tried to pack his television, VCR, and computer in his sports bag. **

"Wow! That's just sad," said Lily.

**They drove. And they drove. Even Aunt Petunia didn't dare ask where they were going. Every now and then Uncle Vernon would take a sharp turn and drive in the opposite direction for a while.**

"**Shake 'em off….shake 'em off," he would mutter whenever he did this. **

**They didn't stop to eat or drink all day. By nightfall ****Dudley**** was howling. He'd never had such a bad day in his life. He was hungry, he'd missed five television programs he'd wanted to see, and he'd never gone so long without blowing up an alien on his computer. **

"He could use that."

**Uncle Vernon stopped at last outside a gloomy-looking hotel one the outskirts of a big city. Dudley and Harry shared a room with twin beds and damp, musty sheets. Dudley snored but Harry stayed awake, sitting on the windowsill, staring down at the lights of passing cars and wondering…**

**They ate stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes on toast for breakfast the next day. They had just finished when the owner of the hotel came over to their table. **

"Ew, that's just gross," said Lily.

"'**Scuse me, but is one of you Mr. H. Potter? Only I got about an 'undred of these at the front desk." **

**She held up a letter so they could read the green ink address: **

**_Mr. H. Potter_**

**_Room 17_**

**_Railview Hotel_**

**_Cokeworth_**

**Harry made a grab for the letter but Uncle Vernon knocked his hand out of the way. The woman stared. **

"**I'll take them," said Uncle Vernon, standing up quickly and following her from the dining room. **

"**Wouldn't it be better just to go home, dear?" Aunt Petunia suggested timidly, hours later, but Uncle Vernon didn't seem to hear her. **

**Exactly what he was looking for, none of them knew. He drove them into the middle of a forest, got out, looked around, shook his head, got back in the car, and off they went again. The same thing happened in the middle of a plowed field, halfway across a suspension bridge, and at the top of a multilevel parking garage. **

"Wow, he's gone mental," said Sirius.

"**Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" ****Dudley**** asked Aunt Petunia dully late that afternoon. **

**Uncle Vernon had parked at the coast, locked them all inside the car, and disappeared. **

**It started to rain. Great drops beat on the roof of the car. ****Dudley**** sniveled. **

"**It's Monday," he told his mother. "The Great Humburto's on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a _television_." **

**Monday. This reminded Harry of something. If it was Monday—and you could usually count on Dudley to know the days of the week because of television—then tomorrow, Tuesday, was Harry's eleventh birthday. **

**Of course, his birthdays were never exactly fun—last year, the Dursleys had given him a coat hanger and a pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks. **

"Oh, that's nice," said Dumbledore.

**Still, you weren't eleven every day.**

"Hermione, I meant turn eleven," said Harry.

**Uncle Vernon was back and he was smiling. **

**He was also carrying a long, thin package and didn't answer Aunt Petunia when she asked what he'd bought. **

"**Found the perfect place!" he said. "Come on! Everyone out!"**

**It was very cold outside the car. Uncle Vernon was pointing at what looked like a large rock way out at sea. Perched on top of the rock was the most miserable little shack you could imagine. One thing was certain, there was no television in there. **

"Oh wonderful," said Alice. "Yeah the perfect place," said Frank.

"**Storm forecast for tonight!" Uncle Vernon gleefully, clapping his hands together. "And this gentleman's kindly agreed to lend us his boat!" **

**A toothless old man came ambling up to them, pointing, with a rather wicked grin, at an old rowboat bobbing in the iron-gray water below them. **

"**I've already got us some rations," said Uncle Vernon, "so all aboard!" **

**It was freezing in the boat. Icy sea spray and rain crept down their necks and a chilly wind whipped their faces. After what seemed like hours they reached the rock, where Uncle Vernon, slipping and sliding, led the way to the broken-down house. **

**The inside was horrible; it smelled strongly of seaweed, the wind whistled through the gaps in the wooden walls, and the fireplace was damp and empty. There were only two rooms. **

**Uncle Vernon's rations turned out to be a bag of chips each and four bananas.**

"You could of at least got better food," said Neville.

** He tried to start a fire but the empty chip bags just smoked and shriveled up.**

"Well duh, everyone knows that," said Peter.

"**Could do with some of those letters now, eh?" he said cheerfully.**

**He was in a very good mood. Obviously he thought nobody stood a chance of reaching them here in a storm to deliver mail. Harry privately agreed, though the thought didn't cheer him up at all.**

**As night fell, the promised storm blew up around them. Spray from the high waves splattered the walls of the hut and a fierce wind rattled the filthy windows. Aunt Petunia found a few moldy blankets in the second room and made up a bed for ****Dudley**** on the moth-eaten sofa. She and Uncle Vernon went off to the lumpy bed next door, and Harry was left to find the softest bit of floor he could and to curl up under the thinnest, most ragged blanket. **

Lily and James looked like they were about to explode.

**The storm raged more and more ferociously as the night went on. Harry couldn't sleep. He shivered and turned over, trying to et comfortable, his stomach rumbling with hunger. ****Dudley****'s snores were drowned by the low rolls of thunder that started near ****midnight****. The lighted dial of ****Dudley****'s watch, which was dangling over the edge of the sofa on his fat wrist, told Harry he'd be eleven in ten minute's time. He lay and watched his birthday tick nearer, wondering if the Dursleys would remember at all, wondering where the letter writer was now. **

**Five minutes to go. Harry heard something creak outside. He hoped the roof wasn't going to fall in, although he night be warmer if it did. Four minutes to go. Maybe the house in privet Drive would be so full of letters when they got back that he'd be able to steal one somehow. **

**Three minutes to go. Was that the sea, slapping hard on the rock like that? And (two minutes to go) what was that funny crunching noise? Was the rock crumbling into the sea?**

**One minute to go and he'd be eleven. Thirty seconds…twenty…ten…nine—maybe he'd wake ****Dudley**** up, just to annoy him—three…two…one…**

**BOOM.**

Everyone jumped because Sirius shouted the last word.

**The whole shack shivered and Harry sat bolt upright, staring at the door. Someone was outside, knocking to come in.**

"That's the end, but before we go on to the next chapter can we eat? We missed dinner because of these four." "I guess. And I want to read next," said Lily.


	4. The Keeper of Keys

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters or books. Everything belongs to J.K Rowling.**

**Mariah Frazier, Katarina Wallace, Shelby Jacob and Kaitlyn Lujan are my characters.**

"Harry," said James. "Can you come here for a second?" "Sure thing, Dad." "Why is Sirius locked up in Azkaban?" asked Remus. "You'll find out in the third book. And don't jump to conclusions when you find out why,"

After they got done eating, Lily took the book and started reading.

**The Keeper of the Keys**

**BOOM. They knocked again. ****Dudley**** jerked awake. **

**"Where's the cannon?" he said stupidly. **

"I think that someone is there to get Harry," said Frank.

**There was a crash behind them and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. He was holding a rifle in his hands—now they knew what had been in the long, thin package he had brought with them. **

**"Who's there"?" he shouted. "I warn you—I'm armed!"**

**There was a pause. Then-**

**SMASH!**

**The door was hit with such force that it swung clean off it's hinges and with a deafening crash landed flat on the floor. **

**A giant of a man was standing in the doorway.**

"HAGRID!" Everyone yelled. 

**His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like beetles under all the hair. **

**The giant squeezed his way into the hut, stooping so that his head just brushed the ceiling. He bent down, picked up the door, and fitted it easily back into its frame. The noise of the storm outside dropped a little. He turned to look at them all. **

**"Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey…"**

**He strode over to the sofa where ****Dudley**** sat frozen with fear.**

**"Budge up, yeh great lump," said the stranger.**

"Well that was rude of him," said Lily. 

**Dudley squeaked and ran to hide behind his mother, who was crouching, terrified, behind Uncle Vernon. **

**"An' here's Harry!" said the giant. **

**Harry looked up into the fierce, wild, shadowy face and saw that the beetle eyes were crinkled in a smile. **

**"Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby," said the giant. "Yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh've got yer mum's eyes." Uncle Vernon made a funny rasping noise. **

**"I demand that you leave at once, sir!" he said. "You are breaking and entering.**

"Literally," said James.

**"Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune." Said the giant; he reached over the back of the sofa, jerked the gun out of Uncle Vernon's hands, bent it into a knot as easily as if it had been made of rubber, and threw it into a corner of the room.**

**Uncle Vernon made another funny noise, like a mouse being trodden on.**

Everyone laughed.

**"Anyway—Harry," said the giant, turning his back on the Dursleys, "a very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here—I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right." **

**From an inside pocket of his black overcoat he pulled a slightly squashed box. Harry opened it with trembling fingers. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with _Happy Birthday Harry_ written on it in green icing. **

**Harry looked up at the giant. He meant to say thank you, but the words got lost on the way to his mouth, and what he said instead was, "Who are you?"**

"Harry James Potter! Where are your manners?" asked Lily. "Uhm, didn't think about them. It was the middle of the night Mum," said Harry. 

**The giant chuckled. **

**"True, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of the Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts." **

**He held out an enormous hand and shook Harry's whole arm. **

**"What about that tea then, eh?" he said, rubbing his hands together. "I'd not say no to summat stronger if yeh've got it, mind."**

"Hagrid and his drinking, he always has troubles with that," said McGonagall. 

**His eyes fell on the empty grate with the shriveled chip bags in it and he snorted. He bent down over the fireplace; they couldn't see what he was doing but when he drew back a second later, there was a roaring fire there. It filled the whole damp hut with flickering light and Harry felt the warmth wash over him as though he'd sunk into a hot bath. **

**The giant sat back down on the sofa, which sagged under his weight, and began taking all sorts of things out of the pockets of his coat: a copper kettle, a squashy package of sausages, a poker, a teapot, several chipped mugs, and a bottle of some amber liquid that he took a swig from before starting to make tea. **

**Soon the hut was full of the sound and smell of sizzling sausage. Nobody said a thing while the giant was working, but as he slid the first six fat, juicy, slightly burnt sausages from the poker, ****Dudley**** fidgeted a little. Uncle ****Vernon**** said sharply, "Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley."**

"Yes because Hagrid is totally concerned about Fatso when there is a kid that looks completely malnourished right there."

**The giant chuckled darkly. **

**"Yer great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursley, don' worry."**

**He passed the sausages to Harry, who was so hungry he had never tasted anything so wonderful, but he still couldn't take his eyes off the giant. Finally, as nobody seemed about to explain anything, he said, "I'm sorry, but I still don't really know who you are." **

**The giant took a gulp of tea and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. **

**"Call me Hagrid," he said, "everyone does. An' like I told yeh, I'm Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts—yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course." **

**"Er—no," said Harry **

**Hagrid looked shocked. **

"Oh that's going to piss Hagrid off," said Alice.

**"Sorry," Harry said quickly. **

"You apologize for everything," said Ron.

**"Sorry?" barked Hagrid, turning to stare at the Dursleys, who shrank back into the shadows. "It's them as should be sorry! I knew yeh weren't gettin' yer letters but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know abou' Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where yer parents learned it all?"**

**"All what?" asked Harry. **

**"ALL WHAT?" Hagrid thundered. "Now wait jus' one second!"**

**He had leapt to his feet. In his anger he seemed to fill the whole hut. The Dursleys were cowering against the wall. **

**"Do you mean ter tell me," he growled at the Dursleys, "that this boy—this boy—knows nothin' abou'—abou' ANYTHING?" **

**Harry thought this was going a bit far. He had been to school, after all, and his marks weren't bad. **

**"I know some things," he said. "I can, you know, do math and stuff." **

**But Hagrid simply waved his hand and said, "About _our_ world, I mean. _Your_ world. _My_ world. _Yer parents' world_. **

**"What world?" **

"Oh Hagrid isn't going to be at all happy about this," said Dumbledore.

**Hagrid looked as if he was about to explode. **

**"DURSLEY!" he boomed. **

**Uncle Vernon, who had gone very pale, whispered something that sounded like "Mimblewimble." Hagrid stared wildly at Harry. "But yeh must know about yer mum and dad," he said. "I mean, they're _famous_. You're _famous_." **

**"What? My—my mum and dad weren't famous, were they?"**

**"Yeh don' know…yeh don' know…" Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair, fixing Harry with a bewildered stare. **

**"Yeh don' know what yeh _are_?" he said finally. **

**Uncle Vernon seemed to have found his voice. **

"**Stop!" he commanded. "Stop right there, sir! I forbid you to tell the boy anything!"**

"Like you're going to stop him, Dursley?" asked Dumbledore.

**A braver man than ****Vernon**** Dursley would have quailed under the furious look Hagrid now gave him; when Hagrid spoke, his every syllable trembled with rage. **

"**You never told him? Never told him what was in the letter Dumbledore left fer him? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An' you kept it from him all these years?" **

"**Kept what from me?" Harry asked eagerly. **

"**STOP! I FORBID YOU!" yelled Uncle Vernon in panic. **

"**Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh," said Hagrid. "Harry—yer a wizard." **

**There was silence inside the hut. Only the sea and the whistling wind could be heard. **

"**I'm a what?" gasped Harry. **

**"A wizard o' course," said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower, "an' a thumpin' good 'un. I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like your, what else would yeh be? An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letter." **

**Harry stretched out his hand at last to take the yellowish envelope, addressed in emerald green to _Mr. H. Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock, The Sea_. He pulled out the letter and read:**

"Yay, he finally gets his letter," said Sirius.

**HOGWARTS SHCOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY**

**Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE**

**(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)**

**_Dear Mr. Potter, _**

**_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at _****_Hogwarts_********_School_****_ of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. _**

**_Term begins September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31._**

**_Yours sincerely, _**

**_Minerva McGonagall,_**

**_Deputy Headmistress_**

**Questions exploded inside Harry's head like fireworks and he couldn't decide which to ask first. After a few minutes he stammered, "What does it mean, they await my owl?" **

"**Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me," said Hagrid, clapping a hand to his forehead with enough force to knock over a cart horse, and from yet another pocket inside his overcoat he pulled an owl—a real, live, rather ruffled-looking owl—a long quill, and a roll of parchment**.

**With his tongue between his teeth he scribbled a note that Harry could read upside down: **

**_Dear Professor Dumbledore,_**

**_Given Harry his letter._**

**_Taking him to but his things tomorrow. _**

**_Weather's horrible. Hope you're well. _**

**_Hagrid_**

**Hagrid rolled up the note, gave it to the owl, which clamped it in its beak, went to the door, and threw the owl out into the storm. Then he came back and sat down as though this was as normal as talking on the telephone. **

**Harry realized his mouth was open and closed it quickly. **

"**Where was I?" said Hagrid, but at that moment, Uncle Vernon, still ashen-faced but looking very angry, moved into the firelight. **

"**He's not going," he said. **

**Hagrid grunted.**

"**I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop him," he said.**

"**A what?" said Harry, interested. **

"**A Muggle," said Hagrid, "it's what we call nonmagic folk like them. An' it's your bad luck you grew up in a family o' the biggest Muggles I ever4 laid eyes on."**

"**We swore when we took him in we'd put a stop to that rubbish," said Uncle Vernon, "swore we'd stamp it out of him! Wizard indeed!" **

"**You _knew_?" said Harry. "You knew I'm a—a wizard?"**

"**Knew!" shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. "Knew! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was? Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that—that school—and came home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups into rats. I was the only one who saw her for what she was—a freak!**

**But for my mother and father, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family!" **

**She stopped to draw breath and then went ranting on. It seemed she had been wanting to say this for years. **

"**Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you, and of course I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange just as—as—_abnormal_—and then , if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!" **

**Harry had gone very white. As soon as he found his voice he said, "Blown up? You told me they died in a car crash!" **

"**CAR CRASH!" roared Hagrid** **jumping up so angrily that the Dursleys scuttled back to their corner. "How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Harry Potter not knowin' his own story when every kid in our world knows his name!" **

"**But why? What happened?" Harry asked urgently. **

**The anger faded from Hagrid's face. He looked suddenly anxious. **

"**I never expected this," he said, in a low, worried voice. "I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble getting' hold of yeh, how much yeh didn't know. Ah, Harry, I don' know if I'm the right person ter tell yeh—but someone's gotta—yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin'" **

**He threw a dirty look at the Dursleys. **

"**Well, it's best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh—mind, I can't tell yeh everythin', it's a great myst'ry, parts of it…" **

**He sat down, stared into the fire for a few seconds, and then said, "It begins, I suppose, with—with a person called—but it's incredible yeh don't know his name, everyone in our world knows-"**

"**Who?" **

"**Well—I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does." **

"**Why not?" **

"**Gulpin' gargoyles, Harry, people are still scared. Blimey, this is difficult. See, there was this wizard who went…bad. As bad as you could go. Worse. Worse than worse. His name was…" **

**Hagrid gulped, but no words came out. **

"**Could you write it down?" Harry suggested. **

"**Nah—I can't spell it. All right—_Voldemort_." **

**Hagrid shuddered. "Don' make me say it again. Anyway, this—this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' fer followers. Got 'em too—some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was getting' himself power, all right. Dark days, Harry. Didn't know who ter trust, didn't dare get friendly with strange wizards or witches…terrible things happened. He was takin' over. 'Course, some stood up to him—an' he killed 'em. Horribly. One o' the only safe places left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of. Didn't dare try takin' the school, not jus' then, anyway. **

"**Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch and wizard as I ever knew. Head boy an' girl at Hogwarts in their day! Suppose the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on his side before…probably knew they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anything' ter do with the Dark Side. **

"**Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em…maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was living, on Halloween ten years ago. You was just a year old. He came ter yer house an'—an'-"**

**Hagrid suddenly pulled out a very dirty, spotted handkerchief and blew his nose with a sound like a foghorn. **

"**Sorry," he said. "But it's that sad—knew yer mum and dad an' nicer people yeh couldn't find—anyway…" **

"**You-Know-Who killed 'em. An' then—an' this is the real myst'ry of the thing—he tried to kill you too. Wanted ter make a clean job of it, I suppose, or maybe he just liked killin' by then. But he couldn't do it. Never wondered how you got that mark on yer forehead? That was no ordinary cut. That's what yeh get when a powerful, evil curse touches yeh—took care of yer mum and dad an' yer house, even—but it didn't work on you, an' that's why yer famous, Harry. NO one ever lived after he decided to kill 'em. No one except you, an' killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age—the McKinnons, the Bones, the Prewetts**

**-an' you was only a baby, an' you lived."**

**Something very painful was going on in Harry's mind. As Hagrid's story came to a close, he saw again the blinding flash of green light, **

**more clearly than he had ever remembered it before—and he remembered something else for the first time in his life: a high, cold, cruel laugh. **

**Hagrid watched him sadly. **

"**Took yeh from the ruined house meself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yeh ter this lot…" **

"**Load of old tosh," said Uncle Vernon. Harry jumped; he had almost forgotten that the Dursleys were there. Uncle Vernon certainly seemed to have got back his courage. He was glaring at Hagrid and his fists were clenched. **

"**Now, you listen here, boy," he snarled, "I accept there's something strange about you, probably nothing a good beating wouldn't have cured**

**-and as for all this about your parents, well, they were weirdoes, no denying it, and the world's better off without them in my opinion**—**asked for all they got, getting mixed up with these wizarding types—just what I expected, always knew they'd come to a sticky end-"**

**But at that moment, Hagrid leapt from the sofa and drew a battered pink umbrella from inside his coat. **

**Pointing this at Uncle Vernon like a sword, he said, "I'm warning you, Dursley—I'm warning you—one more word…" **

**In danger of being speared on the end of an umbrella by a bearded giant, Uncle Vernon's courage failed again; he flattened himself against the wall and fell silent. **

**"That's better," said Hagrid, breathing heavily and sitting back down on the sofa, which this time sagged right down to the floor. **

**Harry, meanwhile, still had questions to ask, hundreds of them. **

**"But what happened to Vol-, sorry—I mean, You-Know-Who?" **

**"Good question, Harry. Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried to kill you. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest mst'ry, see…he was getting' more an' more powerful—why'd he go? **

**"Some say he dies. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die. Some say he's still out there, bidin' his time, like, but I don' believe it. People who was on his side came back ter ours. Some of 'em came outta kinda trances. Don' reckon they could've done if he was comin' back. **

**"Most of us reckon he's still out there but lost his powers. Too weak to carry on. 'Cause somethin' about you finished him, Harry. There was somethin' goin' on that night he hadn't counted on—I dunno what it was, no one does—but somethin' about you stumped him, all right."**

**Hagrid looked at Harry with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes, but Harry, instead of feeling pleased and proud, felt quite sure there had been a horrible mistake. A wizard? Him? How could he possibly be? He'd spent his life being clouted by Dudley, and bullied by Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon; if he was really a wizard, why hadn't they been turned into warty toads every time they'd tried to lock him in his cupboard? If he'd once defeated the greatest sorcerer in world, how come ****Dudley**** had always been able to kick him around like a football? **

**"Hagrid," he said quietly, "I think you must have made a mistake. I don't think I can be a wizard." **

**To his surprise, Hagrid chuckled. **

**"Not a wizard, eh? Never made things happen when you was scared or angry?" **

**Harry looked into the fire. Now he came to think about it…every odd thing that had ever made his aunt and uncle furious with him had happened when he, Harry, had been upset or angry…chased by Dudley's gang, he had somehow found himself out of their reach…dreading going to school with that ridiculous haircut, he'd managed to make it grow back…and the very last time Dudley had hit him, hadn't he gotten his revenge, without even realizing he was doing it? Hadn't he set a boa constrictor on him?**

**Harry looked back at Hagrid, smiling, and saw that Hagrid was positively beaming at him. **

**"See?" said Hagrid. "Harry Potter, not a wizard—you wait, you'll be right famous at Hogwarts." **

**But Uncle Vernon wasn't going to give without a fight. **

**"Haven't I told you he's not going?" he hissed. "He's going to Stonewall High and he'll be grateful for it. I've read those letters and he needs all sorts of rubbish—spell books and wands-"**

**"If he wants ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop him," growled Hagrid. "Stop Lily an' James Potter's son goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad. His name's been down ever since he was born. He's off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and he won't know himself. He'll be with youngsters of his own sort, fer a change, an' he'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had Albus Dumbled-"**

**"I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" yelled Uncle Vernon. **

"Ooh, Hagrid is not going to be happy about that." Said James, laughing, while Sirius was singing, "Dursley's gonna get it! Dursley's gonna get it."

**But he had finally gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled it over his head, "NEVER-" he thundered, "-INSULT—ALBUS—DUMBLEDORE—IN—FRONT—OF—ME!" He brought the umbrella swishing down through the air to point at Dudley—there was a flash of violet light, a sound like a firecracker, a sharp squeal, and the next second, Dudley was dancing on the spot with his hands clasped over his fat bottom, howling in pain. When he turned his back on them, Harry saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers. **

It took ten minutes for everyone to stop laughing. "Why didn't Hagrid didn't just turn him into a full pig?" asked Sirius.

**Uncle Vernon roared. Pulling Aunt Petunia and Dudley into the other room, he cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them. **

**Hagrid looked down at his umbrella and stroked his beard. **

**"Shouldn'ta lost me temper," he said ruefully, "but it didn't work anyway. Meant to turn him into a pig, but I suppose he was so much like a pig anyway there wasn't much left to do."**

It took another 5 minutes for them to get done laughing.

**He cast a sideways look at Harry under his bushy eyebrows. **

**"Be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts," he said. "I'm—er—not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'. I was allowed ter do a bit ter follow yeh an' get yer letters to you an' stuff—one o' the reasons I was so keen ter take on the job." **

**"Why aren't you supposed to do magic?" asked Harry. **

**"Oh, well—I was at Hogwarts meself but I—er—got expelled, ter tell yeh the truth. In me third year. They snapped me wand in half an' everything. But Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper. Great man, Dumbledore." **

**"Why were you expelled?" **

**"It's getting' late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow," said Hagrid loudly. "Gotta get up ter town, get all yer books an' that." **

**He took off his thick black coat and threw it to Harry. **

**"You can kip under that," he said. "Don' mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o' dormice in one o' the pockets." **

"Oh, wonderful. That's just disgusting." Said Alice, with a look of disgust on her face. "Who wants to read next?" "I will," said James.

**A.N. Sorry about taking so long to update, I have a very busy life. I'll try to update sooner.**


	5. Author's note

**A.N.**

**I won't be able to update for a while. Sorry, between swim practice, and renovating my families house, I don't have a lot of time on my hands. Plus, I really don't have a capable computer. I know it's excuses, but when I do have time, I'll make sure I update every day or even twice a day.**


	6. Diagon Alley

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters or books. Everything belongs to J.K Rowling.**

**Mariah Frazier, Katarina Wallace, Shelby Jacob and Kaitlyn Lujan are my characters.**

**Diagon Alley**

**Harry woke early the next morning. Although he could tell it was daylight, he kept his eyes shut tight.**

**_It was a dream,_**** he told himself firmly. _I dreamed a giant called Hagrid came to tell me I was going to a school for wizards. When I open my eyes, I'll be at home in my cupboard. _**

"Oh that's so sad," said Lily.

**There was suddenly a loud tapping noise.**

**_And there's Aunt Petunia knocking on the door, _****Harry thought, his heart sinking. But he still didn't open his eyes. It had been such a good dream. Tap. Tap. Tap.**

"You poor, poor thing," said Lily.

**"All right," Harry mumbled, "I'm getting up."**

**He sat up and Hagrid's heavy coat fell off him. The hut was full of sunlight, the storm was over, Hagrid himself was a sleep on the collapsed sofa, and there was an owl rapping its claw on the window, a newspaper held in its beak. **

**Harry scrambled to his feet, so happy he felt as though a large balloon was swelling inside him. He went straight to the window and jerked it open. **

**The owl swooped in and dropped the newspaper on top of Hagrid, who didn't wake up. The owl then fluttered onto the floor and began to attack Hagrid's coat. **

**"Don't do that." **

**Harry tried to wave the owl out of the way, but it snapped its beak fiercely at him and carried on savaging the coat.**

**"Hagrid!" said Harry loudly. "There's an owl-"**

**"Pay him," Hagrid grunted into the sofa. **

**"What?"**

**"He wants payin' fer deliverin' the paper. Look in the pockets." **

**Hagrid's coat seemed to be made of nothing _but_ pockets—bunches of keys, slug pellets, balls of string, peppermint humbugs, teabags…finally, Harry pulled out a handful of strange-looking coins.**

**"Give him five Knuts," said Hagrid sleepily. **

"Like Harry would know what Knuts are. He only knows muggle money," said James.

**"Knuts?"**

**"The little bronze ones."**

**Harry counted out five little bronze coins, and the owl held out his leg so Harry could put the money into a small leather pouch tied to it. Then he flew off through the open window.**

**Hagrid yawned loudly, sat up, and stretched.**

"Why didn't he just pay the owl if he was getting up?" asked Sirius.

**"Best be off, Harry, lots ter do today, gotta get up ter London an' buy all yer stuff fer school."**

**Harry was turning over the wizard coins and looking at them. He had just thought of something that made him feel as though the happy balloon inside him had got a puncture.**

**"Um—Hagrid?" **

**"Mm?" said Hagrid, who was pulling on his huge boots.**

**"I haven't any money—and you heard Uncle Vernon last night…he won't pay for me to go and learn magic."**

"That's alright Harry, you will have a bunch of money left from your grandparents, and your Mum and I," said James.

**"Don't worry about that," said Hagrid, standing up and scratching his head. "D'yeh think yer parents didn't leave you anything?"**

**"But if their house was destroyed-" **

Everyone from the past looked at Harry skeptically. "Don't muggles have banks?" asked James. "Yes they do. I just didn't think that wizards did. Remember, I just found out about the wizard world. It's a lot for an 11 year old to take in. At least when you get in trouble for even saying the word magic," said Harry.

**"They didn' keep their gold in the house, boy! Nah, first stop fer us is Gringotts. Wizards' bank. Have a sausage, they're not bad cold—an' I wouldn' say no teh a bit o' yer birthday cake, neither." **

**"Wizards have _banks_?"**

**"Just the one. Gringotts. Run by goblins."**

**Harry dropped the bit of sausage he was holding.**

**"_Goblins_?" **

**"Yeah—so yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it, I'll tell yeh that. Never mess with goblins, Harry.**

Everyone from the future had to look away from each other to keep from laughing.

**"Gringotts is the safest place in the world fer anything yeh want to keep safe—'cept maybe Hogwarts. As a matter o' fact, I gotta visit Gringotts anyway. Fer Dumbledore. Hogwarts business." Hagrid drew himself up proudly. "He usually gets me ter do important stuff fer him. Fetchin' you—getting' things from Gringotts—knows he can trust me, see."**

"Someone needs to teach Hagrid some modesty," said McGonagall.

**"Got everythin'? Come on, then." Harry followed Hagrid out onto the rock. The sky was quite clear now and the sea gleamed in the sunlight. The boat Uncle Vernon had hired was still there, with a lot of water in the bottom after the storm.**

**"How did you get here?" Harry asked, looking around for another boat. **

**"Flew," said Hagrid. **

**"_Flew_?"**

**"Yeah—but we'll go back in this. Not s'posed ter magic now I've got yeh."**

**They settled down in the boat, Harry staring at Hagrid, trying to imagine him flying.**

**"Seems a shame ter row, though," said Hagrid, giving Harry another of his sideways looks. "If I was ter—er—speed things up a bit, would yeh mind not mentionin' it at Hogwarts?" **

"Of course he would!" said Lily, whilst James and Sirius were saying, "Of course not!"

**"Of course not," said Harry, eager to see more magic. Hagrid pulled out the pink umbrella again, tapped it twice on the side of the boat, and they sped off toward land. **

"Harry James Potter! I'm ashamed of you. You could get him into trouble. You take after your father don't you?" said Lily. "Kinda," said Harry. "Wait what do you mean by kinda?" asked James. "Well, I do get into trouble, and a couple detentions and threats of expulsion," he said eyeing Severus, "I don't play pranks or get into trouble purposely. It sorta just has to do with being in the wrong place at the wrong time." "And being a smart mouth that can't control his temper," added Hermione. "That lands his friends in detention with him," added Neville. "or just being downright forgetful and stupid," said Ron, getting his two sense worth. "Thanks for that, Traitors." Said Harry, while everyone else was laughing.

**"Why would you be mad to try and rob Gringotts?" Harry asked. **

**"Spells—enchantments," said Hagrid, unfolding his newspaper as he spoke. "They say there's dragons guardin' the high security vaults. **

"Is that really true?" asked Lily. "Of course not," said Severus. "People just say that so people won't go down there." Ron opened his mouth to correct Severus, when Hermione, Harry and Neville hit him upside the head. Harry shook his head and mouthed "It will give too much away."

**"And then yeh gotta find yer way—Gringotts is hundreds of miles under ****London****, see. Deep under the Underground. Yeh'd die of hunger tryin' to get out, even if yeh did manage to get yer hands on summat."**

**Harry sat and thought about this while Hagrid read his newspaper, the _Daily Prophet_. Harry had learned from Uncle Vernon that people liked to be left alone when they did this, but it was very difficult, he'd never had so many questions in his life. **

**"Ministry o' Magic messin' things up as usual," Hagrid muttered, turning the page. **

**"There's a Ministry of Magic?" Harry asked, before he could stop himself.**

"Wow Harry! I never realized you were so stupid!" said Ron, which earned him another slap from Hermione and also a slap from Alice and Lily.

**"Course," said Hagrid. "They wanted Dumbledore fer Minister, o' course, but he'd never leave Hogwarts, so old Cornelius Fudge got the job. Bungler if ever there was one. So he pelts Dumbledore with owls every morning, askin' fer advice."**

"**But what does a Ministry of Magic _do_?" **

"Now Lily don't hit me, but I kinda agree with Ron," said James. Sirius and Remus both nodded their heads.

"**Well, their main job is to keep it from the Muggles that there's still witches an' wizards up an' down the country." **

"**Why?" **

"I'm sorry for hitting you Ron," said Lily. Alice nodded her head in agreement. Even Dumbledore looked like he wanted to agree, but he kept his mouth shut. Severus would have but he was afraid that James or Sirius would jinx him.

"**Why? Blimey, Harry, everyone'd be wantin' magic solutions to their problems. Nah, we're best left alone." **

**At this moment the boat bumped gently into the harbor wall. Hagrid folded up his newspaper, and they clambered up the stone steps to the street. **

**Passerby stared a lot at Hagrid as they walked through the little town to the station. Harry couldn't blame them. Not only was Hagrid twice as tall as anyone else, he kept pointing at perfectly ordinary things like parking meters and saying loudly, "See that, Harry? Things these Muggles dream up, eh?" **

"**Hagrid," said Harry, panting a bit as he ran to keep up, "did you say there are _dragons_ at Gringotts?"**

"**Well, so they say," said Hagrid. "Crikey, I'd like a dragon."**

**"You'd _like_ one?" **

"**Wanted one ever since I was a kid—here we go."**

**They had reached the station. There was a train to ****London**** in five minutes' time. Hagrid, who didn't understand "Muggle money," as he called it, gave the bills to Harry so he could buy their tickets.**

**People stared more than ever on the train. Hagrid took up two seats and sat knitting what looked like a canary-yellow circus tent. **

"**Still got yer letter, Harry?" he asked as he counted stitches. **

**Harry took the parchment envelope out of his pocket.**

"**Good," said Hagrid. "There's a list in there of everything yeh need."**

**Harry unfolded a second piece of paper he hadn't noticed the night before, and read:**

**_HOGWARTS_********_SCHOOL_****_ of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY_**

**_UNIFORM_**

**_First-year students will require:_**

**_Three sets of plain work robes (black)_**

**_One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear_**

**_One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)_**

**_One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)_**

**_Please note that all pupils clothes should carry name tags_**

**_COURSE BOOKS_**

**_All students should have a copy of each of the following:_**

**_The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)by Miranda Goshawk_**

**_A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot_**

**_Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling_**

**_A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch_**

**_One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore_**

**_Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger_**

**_Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander_**

**_The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble_**

**_OTHER EQUIPMENT_**

**_1 wand_**

**_1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)_**

**_1 set of glass or crystal phials_**

**_1 telescope set_**

**_1 brass scales_**

**_Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad_**

**_PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS_**

"**Can we buy all this in ****London****?" Harry wondered aloud. **

"**If yeh know where to go," said Hagrid.**

**Harry had never been to ****London**** before.**

"Oh, I'm going to kill your sister Lily," said James.

**Although Hagrid seemed to know where he was going, he was obviously not used to** **getting there in an ordinary way. He got stuck in the ticket barrier on the Underground, and complained loudly that the seats were too small and the trains too slow.**

"**I don't know how the Muggles manage without magic," he said as they climbed a broken-down escalator that led up to a bustling road lined with shops.**

**Hagrid was so huge that he parted the crowd easily; all Harry had to do was keep close behind him. They passed book shops and music stores, hamburger restaurants and cinemas, but nowhere that looked as if it could sell you a magic wand. This was just an ordinary street full of ordinary people. Could there really be piles of wizard gold buried beneath them? Were there really shops that sold spell books and broomsticks? Might this not all be some huge joke that the Dursleys had cooked up?**

"Ha! There is no way! They have no funny bones in their bodies." Said Sirius, James and Lily nodded in agreement.

**If Harry hadn't known the Dursleys had no sense of humor, he might have thought so; yet somehow, even though everything Hagrid had told him so far was unbelievable, Harry couldn't help trusting him. **

**"This is it," said Hagrid, coming to a halt, "the Leaky Cauldron. It's a famous place."**

**It was a tiny, grubby-looking pub. If Hagrid hadn't pointed it out, Harry wouldn't have noticed it was there. The people hurrying by didn't glance at it. Their eyes slid from the big book shop on one side to the record shop on the other as if they couldn't see the Leaky Cauldron at all.**

"Well duh! You can't have a muggle walk into a wizarding pub. It's one of those things that would give us away," said Frank, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

**In fact, Harry had the most peculiar feeling that only he and Hagrid could see it. **

**Before he could mention this, Hagrid had steered him inside.**

**For a famous place, it was very dark and shabby. A few old women were sitting in a corner, drinking tiny glasses of sherry. One of them was smoking a long pipe. A little man in a top hat was talking to the old bartender, who was quite bald and looked like a toothless walnut**(Everyone laughed at Harry's description)**. The low buzz of chatter stopped when they walked in. Everyone seemed to know Hagrid; they waved and smiled at him, and the bartender reached for a glass, saying, "The usual, Hagrid?"**

**"Can't, Tom, I'm on official Hogwarts business," said Hagrid, clapping his great hand on Harry's shoulder and making Harry's knees buckle. **

**"Good Lord," said the bartender, peering at Harry, "is this—can this be-"**

**The Leaky Cauldron had suddenly gone completely still and silent. **

**"Bless my soul," whispered the old bartender, "Harry Potter…what an honor." **

"Wow! Harry you really are famous! That's awesome!" said Sirius. "I know! I'm awesome!" said Harry. "No you're not, Dude. Don't lie," said Ron. **(A.N. Sorry, I was listening to I'm Awesome while writing this chapter. I couldn't resist.) **Everyone from the past stared at Ron, while everyone from the future started laughing. "It's a song," explained Hermione. "After this chapter we'll let you listen to it."

**He hurried out from behind the bar, rushed toward Harry and seized his hand, tears in his eyes. **

**"Welcome back, Mr. Potter, welcome back."**

**Harry didn't know what to say. Everyone was looking at him. The old woman with the pipe was puffing on it without realizing it had gone out. Hagrid was beaming. **

**Then there was a great scraping of chairs and the next moment, Harry found himself shaking hands with everyone in the Leaky Cauldron.**

**"Doris Crawford, Mr. Potter, can't believe I'm meeting you at last." **

**"So proud, Mr. Potter, I'm just so proud."**

**"Always wanted to shake your hand—I'm all of a flutter."**

**"Delighted, Mr. Potter, just can't tell you, Diggle's the name, Dedalus Diggle."**

"Of course. Dedalus Diggle will make sure he gets to shake your hand," said Sirius.

**"I've seen you before!" said Harry, as Dedalus Diggle's top hat fell off in his excitement. "You bowed to me once in a shop!"**

**"He remembers!" cried Dedalus Diggle, looking around at everyone. "Did you hear that? He remembers me!" Harry shook hands again and again—Doris Crockford kept coming back for more. **

Everyone laughed at Doris Crawford. "You haven't even made it to Hogwarts and you already have a fan girl!" said James.

**A pale young man made his way forward, very nervously. One of his eyes was twitching. **

**"Professor Quirrell!" said Hagrid. "Professor Quirrell will be one of your teachers at Hogwarts."**

**"P-P-Potter," stammered Professor Quirrell, grasping Harry's hand, "c-can't t-tell you how p-pleased I am to meet you." **

**"What magic do you teach, Professor Quirrell?" **

"Isn't it obvious? He's either teaching Muggle Studies or Potions." Said Sirius, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

**"D-Defense Against the D-D-Dark Arts," muttered Professor Quirrell, as though he'd rather not think about it.**

"What? How the Hell could that Blithering Idiot get the Defense Against the Dark Arts job?" asked McGonagall. Everyone stared at her. She never insulted anyone. Dumbledore laughed at her though, as if it were the most common thing ever.

**"N-not that you n-need it, eh, P-P-Potter?" He laughed nervously. "You'll be g-getting all your equipment, I suppose? I've g-got to p-pick up a new b-book on vampires, m-myself." He looked terrified at the very thought. **

**But the others wouldn't let Professor Quirrell keep Harry to himself. It took almost ten minutes to get away from them all. At last, Hagrid managed to make himself heard over the babble. **

**"Must get on—lots ter buy. Come on, Harry." **

**Doris Crawford shook Harry's hand one last time, and Hagrid led them through the bar and out into a small, walled courtyard, where there was nothing but a trash can and a few weeds.**

**Hagrid grinned at Harry. **

**"Told yeh, didn't I? Told yeh you was famous. Even Professor Quirrell was tremblin' ter meet yeh—mind you, he's usually tremblin'." **

**"Is he always that nervous?"**

**"Oh yeah. Poor bloke. Brilliant mind. He was fine while he was studying outta books but then he took a year off ter get some firsthand experience…They say he met vampires in the Black Forest, and there was a nasty bit o' trouble with a hag—never been the same since. Scared of the students, scared of his own subject—now, where's me umbrella?" **

**Vampires? Hags? Harry's head was swimming. Hagrid, meanwhile, was counting bricks in the wall above the trash can. **

**"Three up…two across…" he muttered. "Right, stand back, Harry."**

**He tapped the wall three times with the point of his umbrella. The brick he touched quivered—it wriggled—in the middle, a small hole appeared—it grew wider and wider—a second later they were facing an archway large enough even for Hagrid, an archway onto a cobbled street that twisted and turned out of sight. **

**"Welcome," said Hagrid. "To Diagon Alley." **

**He grinned at Harry's amazement. They stepped through the archway. Harry looked quickly over his shoulder and saw the archway shrink instantly back into a solid wall.**

**The sun shone brightly on a stack of cauldrons outside the nearest shop. Cauldrons—All sizes—Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver—Self Stirring—Collapsible, said a sign hanging over them.**

**"Yeah, you'll be needin' one," said Hagrid, "but we gotta get yer money first."**

**Harry wished he had about eight more eyes. **

**He turned his head in every direction as they walked up the street, trying to look at everything at once: the shops, the things outside them, the people doing their shopping. A plump woman an Apothecary was shaking her head as they passed, saying, "Dragon liver, sixteen sickles an ounce, they're mad…" **

**A low soft hooting came from a dark shop with a sign saying Eeylops Owl Emporium—Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown, and Snowy. Several boys of about Harry's age had their noses pressed against a window with broomsticks in it. "Look," Harry heard one of them say, "the new Nimbus Two Thousand—fastest ever—"**

**There were shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments Harry had never seen before, windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon…**

**"Gringotts," said Hagrid. **

**They had reached a snowy white building that towered over the other little shops. Standing beside its burnished bronze doors, wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold was-**

**"Yeah, that's a goblin," said Hagrid quietly as they walked up the white stone steps toward him. Te goblin was about a head shorter than Harry. He had a swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard and, Harry noticed, very long fingers and feet. He bowed as they walked inside. Now they were facing a second pair of doors, silver this time, with words engraved upon them: **

**_Enter, stranger, but take heed_**

**_Of what awaits the sin of greed,_**

**_For those who take, but do not earn, _**

**_Must pay most dearly in their turn,_**

**_So if you seek beneath our floors_**

**_A treasure that was never yours, _**

**_Thief, you have been warned, beware_**

**_Of finding more than treasure there._**

**"Like I said, Yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it," said Hagrid.**

Harry and the rest from the future were having trouble controlling their laughter.

**A pair of goblins bowed them through the silver doors and they were in a vast marble hall. About a hundred more goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing gold coins in brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses. There were too many doors to count leading off the hall and yet more goblins were showing people in and out of these. Hagrid and Harry made for the counter. **

**"Morning," said Hagrid to a free goblin. "We've come ter take some money outta Mr. Harry Potter's safe." **

**"You have his key, sir?"**

**"Got it here somewhere," said Hagrid, and he started emptying his pockets onto the counter, scattering a handful of moldy dog biscuits over the goblin's book of numbers.**

"That's just disgusting!" said Alice.

**The goblin wrinkled his nose. Harry watched the goblin on their right weighing a pile of rubies as big as glowing coals. **

**"Got it," said Hagrid at last, holding up a tiny golden key. **

**The goblin looked at it closely. **

**"That seems to be in order." **

**"An' I've also got a letter here from Professor Dumbledore," said Hagrid importantly, throwing out his chest. "It's about You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen."**

**The goblin read the letter carefully.**

**"Very well," he said, handing it back to Hagrid, "I will have someone take you down to both vaults. Griphook!"**

**Griphook was yet another goblin. Once Hagrid had crammed all the dog biscuits back inside his pockets, he and Harry followed Griphook toward one of the doors leading off the hall. **

**"What's the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen?" Harry asked. **

**"Can't tell yeh that," said Hagrid mysteriously. "Very secret. Hogwarts business. Dumbledore's trusted me. More'n my job's worth ter tell yeh that." '**

"Someone really needs to teach him modesty," said McGonagall eyeing Dumbledore pointedly.

**Griphook held the door open for them. Harry, who had expected more marble, was surprised. They were in a narrow stone passageway lit with flaming torches. It sloped steeply downward and there were little railway tracks on the floor. Griphook whistled and a small cart came hurtling up the tracks toward them. They climbed in-Hagrid with some difficulty-and were off. **

**At first they just hurtled through a maze of twisting passages. Harry tried to remember left, right, right, left, middle fork, right, left, but it was impossible. **

**The rattling cart seemed to know its own way, because Griphook wasn't steering. **

**Harry's eyes stung as the cold air rushed past them, but he kept them wide open. Once, he thought he saw a burst of fire at the end of a passage and twisted around to see it it was a dragon, but too late-they plunged even deeper, passing an underground lake where huge stalactites and stalagmites grew from the ceiling and floor.**

**"I never know," Harry called to Hagrid over the noise of the cart, "what's the difference between a stalagmite and a stalactite?" **

**"Stalagmite's got an 'm' in it," said Hagrid. "An' don' ask me questions just now, I think I'm gonna be sick." **

**He did look very green, and when the cart stopped at last beside a small door in the passage wall, Hagrid got out and had to lean against the wall to stop his knees from trembling. **

**Griphook unlocked the door. A lot of green smoke came billowing out, and as it cleared, Harry gasped. Inside were mounds of gold coins. Columns of silver. Heaps of little bronze Knuts. **

**"All yours," smiled Hagrid. **

**All Harry's-it was incredible. The Dursleys couldn't have known about this or they'd have had it from him faster than blinking. **

**How often had had they complained how much Harry cost them to keep? And all the time there had been a small fortune belonging to him, buried deep under London. Hagrid helped Harry pile some of it into a bag. **

"More like a large fortune, if you include my parents money," said James.

**"The gold ones are Galleons," he explained. "Seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle, it's easy enough. Right, that should be enough fer a couple o' terms, we'll keep the rest safe fer yeh." He turned to Griphook. "Vault seven hundred and thirteen now, please, and can we go more slowly?" **

**"One speed only," said Griphook.**

**They were going down even deeper now and gathering speed. The air became colder and colder as they hurtled round tight corners. They went rattling over an underground ravine and Harry leaned over the side to try and see what was down at the dark bottom, but Hagrid groaned and pulled him back by the scruff of his neck.**

**Vault seven hundred and thirteen had no keyhole. **

"**Stand back," said Griphook importantly. He stroked the door gently with one of his long fingers and it simply melted away. **

"**If anyone but a Gringotts goblin tried that, they'd be sucked through the door and trapped in there," said Griphook. **

"**How often do you check to see if anyone's inside?" Harry asked. **

"**About once every ten years," said Griphook with a rather nasty grin. **

"It sounds like he enjoys that thought," said Lily.

**Something really extraordinary had to be inside this top security vault, Harry was sure, and he leaned forward eagerly, expecting to see fabulous jewels at the very least **— **but at first he thought it was empty. Then he noticed a grubby little package wrapped up in brown paper lying on the floor. **

**Hagrid picked it up and tucked it deep inside his coat. Harry longed to know what it was, but knew better than to ask. **

"**Come on, back in this infernal cart, and don't talk to me on the way back, it's best if I keep me mouth shut," said Hagrid. **

**One wild cart ride later they stood blinking in the sunlight outside Gringotts. Harry didn't know where to run first now that he had a bag full of money. He didn't have to know how many Galleons there were to a pound to know that he was holding more money than he'd had in his whole life — more money than even ****Dudley**** had ever had.**

"**Might as well get yer uniform," said Hagrid, nodding toward Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. "Listen, Harry, would yeh mind if I slipped off fer a pick-me-up in the Leaky Cauldron? I hate them Gringotts carts." He did still look a bit sick, so Harry entered Madam Malkin's shop alone, feeling nervous. **

**Madam Malkin was a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve. **

"**Hogwarts, dear?" she said, when Harry started to speak. "Got the lot here — another young man being fitted up just now, in fact."**

**In the back of the shop, a boy with a pale, pointed face** **was standing on a footstool while a second witch pinned up his long black robes.**

"Sounds like a Malfoy." Said Sirius with a look of disgust on his face.

** Madam Malkin stood Harry on a stool next to him slipped a long robe over his head, and began to pin it to the right length. **

"**Hello," said the boy, "Hogwarts, too?" **

"**Yes," said Harry. **

"**My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands," said the boy. **

"If the wand chooses the wizard, then why is his mother buying it?" asked Dumbledore.

**He had a bored, drawling voice. "Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow." **

"He sounds like such a charming boy." Said Lily sarcastically.

**Harry was strongly reminded of ****Dudley****. **

"**Have _you _got your own broom?" the boy went on. **

"**No," said Harry. **

"**Play Quidditch at all?" **

"**No," Harry said again, wondering what on earth Quidditch could be.**

"You don't know what Quidditch is? Please tell me you make the house team in second year." Said James, he looked as if he was about to have a heart attack. "No, sorry," said Harry.

"**_I _do — Father says it's a crime if I'm not picked to play for my house, and I must say, I agree. Know what house you'll be in yet?" **

"**No," said Harry, feeling more stupid by the minute. **

"**Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they, but I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been — imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" **

"**Mmm," said Harry, wishing he could say something a bit more interesting. **

"**I say, look at that man!" said the boy suddenly, nodding toward the front window. Hagrid was standing there, grinning at Harry and pointing at two large ice creams to show he couldn't come in. **

"**That's Hagrid," said Harry, pleased to know something the boy didn't. "He works at Hogwarts." **

"**Oh," said the boy, "I've heard of him. He's a sort of servant, isn't he?"**

"**He's the gamekeeper," said Harry. He was liking the boy less and less every second. **

"**Yes, exactly. I heard he's a sort of _savage _**— **lives in a hut on the school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic, and ends up setting fire to his bed." **

"**I think he's brilliant," said Harry coldly. **

"**_Do _you?" said the boy, with a slight sneer. "Why is he with you? Where are your parents?" **

"**They're dead," said Harry shortly. He didn't feel much like going into the matter with this boy. **

"**Oh, sorry," said the other, not sounding sorry at all. **"**But they were _our _kind, weren't they?" **"

"**They were a witch and wizard, if that's what you mean." **

"**I really don't think they should let the other sort in, do you? They're just not the same; they've never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families. What's your surname, anyway?" **

"Don't tell him Harry!" yelled Sirius.

**But before Harry could answer, Madam Malkin said, "That's you done, my dear," and Harry, not sorry for an excuse to stop talking to the boy, hopped down from the footstool. **

"**Well, I'll see you at Hogwarts, I suppose," said the drawling boy. **

**Harry was rather quiet as he ate the ice cream Hagrid had bought him (chocolate and raspberry with chopped nuts). **

"**What's up?" said Hagrid. **

"**Nothing," Harry lied.**

**They stopped to buy parchment and quills. Harry cheered up a bit when he found a bottle of ink that changed color as you wrote. When they had left the shop, he said, "Hagrid, what's Quidditch?" **

"**Blimey, Harry, I keep forgettin' how little yeh know — not knowin' about Quidditch!" **

"Hagrid! That's not very nice!" admonished Lily, forgetting that it was just a book. He wasn't actually there in person.

"**Don't make me feel worse," said Harry. He told Hagrid about the pale boy in Madam Malkin's. **

"— **and he said people from Muggle families shouldn't even be allowed in —" **

"**Yer not _from _a Muggle family. If he'd known who yeh _were _**— **he's grown up knowin' yer name if his parents are wizardin' folk. You saw what everyone in the Leaky Cauldron was like when they saw yeh. Anyway, what does he know about it, some o' the best I ever saw were the only ones with magic in 'em in a long line o' Muggles — look at yer mum! Look what she had fer a sister!" **

Lily couldn't stop smiling, he complimented her and insulted her sister, she might actually start liking Hagrid. He always scared her whenever she saw him around the school.

"**So what _is _Quidditch?" **

"**It's our sport. Wizard sport. It's like — like soccer in the Muggle world — everyone follows Quidditch — played up in the air on broomsticks and there's four balls — sorta hard ter explain the rules." **

"'Sorta hard ter explain the rules'! Who is Hagrid kidding? It is easy and simple, really."

"**And what are Slytherin and Hufflepuff?" **

"**School houses. There's four. Everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o' duffers, but —" **

"**I bet I'm in Hufflepuff," said Harry gloomily. **

"**Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin," said Hagrid darkly. "There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin. You-Know-Who was one."**

"**Vol-, sorry —You-Know-Who was at Hogwarts?" **

"**Years an' years ago," said Hagrid. They bought Harry's school books in a shop called Flourish and Blotts where the shelves were stacked to the ceiling with books as large as paving stones bound in leather; books the size of postage stamps in covers of silk; books full of peculiar symbols and a few books with nothing in them at all. Even Dudley, who never read anything, would have been wild to get his hands on some of these. **

**Hagrid almost had to drag Harry away from _Curses and Countercurses (Bewitch Your Friends and Befuddle Your Enemies with the Latest Revenges: Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue-Tying and Much, Much More) _by Professor Vindictus Viridian. **

"Are you sure you don't get into trouble at school for pulling pranks on people?" asked Lily. "I'm sure Mum. Actually, I doubt I would have gotten into trouble for those. The professors were always getting onto The Weasley twins, Fred and George," said Harry.

"**I was trying to find out how to curse ****Dudley****." **

Everyone, including McGonagall and Dumbledore laughed at this.

"**I'm not sayin' that's not a good idea, but yer not ter use magic in the Muggle world except in very special circumstances," said Hagrid. "An' anyway, yeh couldn' work any of them curses yet, yeh'll need a lot more study before yeh get ter that level." **

"I've always hated that rule." Said McGonagall, everyone stared at her. She always set store by the rules.

**Hagrid wouldn't let Harry buy a solid gold cauldron, either ("It says pewter on yer list"), but they got a nice set of scales for weighing potion ingredients and a collapsible brass telescope. Then they visited the Apothecary, which was fascinating enough to make up for its horrible smell, a mixture of bad eggs and rotted cabbages. Barrels of slimy stuff stood on the floor; jars of herbs, dried roots, and bright powders lined the walls; bundles of feathers, strings of fangs, and snarled claws hung from the ceiling. While Hagrid asked the man behind the counter for a supply of some basic potion ingredients for Harry, Harry himself examined silver unicorn horns at twenty-one Galleons each and minuscule, glittery-black beetle eyes (five Knuts a scoop). **

**Outside the Apothecary, Hagrid checked Harry's list again. **

"**Just yer wand left — oh yeah, an' I still haven't got yeh a birthday present." **

**Harry felt himself go red. **

"**You don't have to —" **

"**I know I don't have to. Tell yeh what, I'll get yer an animal. Not a toad, toads went outta fashion years ago, yeh'd be laughed at**

Neville turned bright red.

— **an' I don' like cats, they make me sneeze. I'll get yer an owl. All the kids want owls; they're dead useful, carry yer mail an' everythin'." **

**Twenty minutes later, they left Eeylops Owl Emporium, which had been dark and full of rustling and flickering, jewel-bright eyes. Harry now carried a large cage that held a beautiful snowy owl, fast asleep with her head under her wing. He couldn't stop stammering his thanks, sounding just like Professor Quirrell.**

"**Don' mention it," said Hagrid gruffly. "Don' expect you've had a lotta presents from them Dursleys. Just Ollivander's left now — only place fer wands, Ollivander's, and yeh gotta have the best wand." **

**A magic wand… this was what Harry had been really looking forward to. **

"That's what everyone looks forward to," said Remus.

**The last shop was narrow and shabby. Peeling gold letters over the door read Ollivander's: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C. A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window. **

**A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as they stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a single, spindly chair that Hagrid sat on to wait. Harry felt strangely as though he had entered a very strict library; he swallowed a lot of new questions that had just occurred to him and looked instead at the thousands of narrow boxes piled neatly right up to the ceiling. For some reason, the back of his neck prickled. **

**The very dust and silence in here seemed to tingle with some secret magic. **

"**Good afternoon," said a soft voice. Harry jumped. Hagrid must have jumped, too, because there was a loud crunching noise and he got quickly off the spindly chair. **

**An old man was standing before them, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop. **

"**Hello," said Harry awkwardly. **

"**Ah yes," said the man. "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon. Harry Potter." It wasn't a question. "You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work." **

"How does he remember that?" asked Lily, "he must've sold millions of wands."

**Mr. Ollivander moved closer to Harry. Harry wished he would blink. Those silvery eyes were a bit creepy. **

"**Your father, on the other hand, favored a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favored it — it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course."**

James was perplexed, "how does he remember that? I mean every kid does, but the maker of the wands?"

**Mr. Ollivander had come so close that he and Harry were almost nose to nose. Harry could see himself reflected in those misty eyes. **

"**And that's where…" **

**Mr. Ollivander touched the lightning scar on Harry's forehead with a long, white finger. **

"**I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it," he said softly. "Thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands… well, if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do…" **

**He shook his head and then, to Harry's relief, spotted Hagrid. **

"**Rubeus! Rubeus Hagrid! How nice to see you again… Oak, sixteen inches, rather bendy, wasn't it?" **

"**It was, sir, yes," said Hagrid. **

"**Good wand, that one. But I suppose they snapped it in half when you got expelled?" said Mr. Ollivander, suddenly stern. **

"**Er — yes, they did, yes," said Hagrid, shuffling his feet. "I've still got the pieces, though," he added brightly. **

"**But you don't _use _them?" said Mr. Ollivander sharply. **

"**Oh, no, sir," said Hagrid quickly. Harry noticed he gripped his pink umbrella very tightly as he spoke.**

"Of course not!" everyone was laughing. It took about 5 minutes for everyone to calm down.

"**Hmmm," said Mr. Ollivander, giving Hagrid a piercing look. "Well, now — Mr. Potter. Let me see." He pulled a long tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket. "Which is your wand arm?" **

"**Er — well, I'm right-handed," said Harry. **

"**Hold out your arm. That's it." He measured Harry from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and round his head. As he measured, he said, "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr. Potter. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand." **

**Harry suddenly realized that the tape measure, which was measuring between his nostrils, was doing this on its own. Mr. Ollivander was flitting around the shelves, taking down boxes. **

"**That will do," he said, and the tape measure crumpled into a heap on the floor. "Right then, Mr. Potter. Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. just take it and give it a wave." **

**Harry took the wand and (feeling foolish) waved it around a bit, but Mr. Ollivander snatched it out of his hand almost at once. **

"**Maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy. Try —" **

**Harry tried — but he had hardly raised the wand when it, too, was snatched back by Mr. Ollivander. **

"**No, no — here, ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches, springy. Go on, go on, try it out."**

**Harry tried. And tried. He had no idea what Mr. Ollivander was waiting for. The pile of tried wands was mounting higher and higher on the spindly chair, but the more wands Mr. Ollivander pulled from the shelves, the happier he seemed to become. **

James and Lily were on the edge of their seats, what if a wand didn't choose him?

"**Tricky customer, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere — I wonder, now — yes, why not — unusual combination — holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple." **

**Harry took the wand. He felt a sudden warmth in his fingers. **

Lily and James released their breath that they hadn't realized they had been holding.

**He raised the wand above his head, brought it swishing down through the dusty air and a stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework, throwing dancing spots of light on to the walls. **

**Hagrid whooped and clapped and Mr. Ollivander cried, "Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well… how curious… how very curious…" **

**He put Harry's wand back into its box and wrapped it in brown paper, still muttering, "Curious… curious…" **

"**Sorry," said Harry, "but what's curious?" **

**Mr. Ollivander fixed Harry with his pale stare. **

"**I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather — just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother — why, its brother gave you that scar."**

Everyone gasped, well everyone from the past at least.

**Harry swallowed. **

"**Yes, thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember… I think we must expect great things from you, Mr. Potter… After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things — terrible, yes, but great." **

**Harry shivered. He wasn't sure he liked Mr. Ollivander too much. He paid seven gold Galleons for his wand, and Mr. Ollivander bowed them from his shop. **

**The late afternoon sun hung low in the sky as Harry and Hagrid made their way back down Diagon Alley, back through the wall, back through the Leaky Cauldron, now empty. Harry didn't speak at all as they walked down the road; he didn't even notice how much people were gawking at them on the Underground, laden as they were with all their funny-shaped packages, with the snowy owl asleep in its cage on Harry's lap. Up another escalator, out into Paddington station; Harry only realized where they were when Hagrid tapped him on the shoulder. **

"**Got time fer a bite to eat before yer train leaves," he said. **

**He bought Harry a hamburger and they sat down on plastic seats to eat them. Harry kept looking around. Everything looked so strange, somehow. **

"**You all right, Harry? Yer very quiet," said Hagrid. **

**Harry wasn't sure he could explain. He'd just had the best birthday of his life — and yet — he chewed his hamburger, trying to find the words.**

"**Everyone thinks I'm special," he said at last. **"**All those people in the Leaky Cauldron, Professor Quirrell, Mr. Ollivander… but I don't know anything about magic at all. How can they expect great things? I'm famous and I can't even remember what I'm famous for. I don't know what happened when Vol-, sorry — I mean, the night my parents died." **

**Hagrid leaned across the table. Behind the wild beard and eyebrows he wore a very kind smile. **

"**Don' you worry, Harry. You'll learn fast enough. Everyone starts at the beginning at Hogwarts, you'll be just fine. Just be yerself. I know it's hard. Yeh've been singled out, an' that's always hard. But yeh'll have a great time at Hogwarts — I did — still do, 'smatter of fact."**

**Hagrid helped Harry on to the train that would take him back to the Dursleys, then handed him an envelope. **

"**Yer ticket fer Hogwarts," he said. "First o' September — King's Cross — it's all on yer ticket. Any problems with the Dursleys, send me a letter with yer owl, she'll know where to find me…. See yeh soon, Harry." **

**The train pulled out of the station. Harry wanted to watch Hagrid until he was out of sight; he rose in his seat and pressed his nose against the window, but he blinked and Hagrid had gone.**

"That's the end. Who wants to read next?" asked James. "I will," said Albus. "Wait before we start reading, I want to hear that song," said Sirius. "Alright, but there are some things that only the muggle-borns or half-bloods will understand. And there is quite a bit of cussing," said Hermione. Then a radio showed up on the table and started playing "I'm Awesome". By the end of the song everyone was laughing. Even Severus, McGonagall and Dumbledore. "That song is great!" said Sirius. Then he started singing it, which made everyone laugh harder.

**Sorry it's taken me so long to update. I'll try to update quicker next time. I know I said this the last chapter, but hopefully this time I'm telling the truth. **


	7. The journey from platform 9 and 34

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters or books. Everything belongs to J.K Rowling.**

**Mariah Frazier, Katarina Wallace, Shelby Jacob and Kaitlyn Lujan are my characters.**

**The Journey from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters**

**Harry's last month with the Dursleys wasn't fun.**

"When was living at the Dursley's ever fun?" asked James. "Well, it was worse than usual," replied Harry.

** True, Dudley was now so scared of Harry he wouldn't stay in the same room, while Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn't shut Harry in his cupboard, force him to do anything, or shout at him — in fact, they didn't speak to him at all. **

"Sounds like an improvement to me," said Sirius.

**Half terrified, half furious, they acted as though any chair with Harry in it were empty.**

"Like they didn't so that before," said Lily. 

**Although this was an improvement in many ways, it did become a bit depressing after a while. **

**Harry kept to his room, with his new owl for company. He had decided to call her Hedwig, a name he had found in _A History of Magic_. His school books were very interesting. **

"OH NO! He has to much of his mother in him!" cried Sirius, James looked depressed, everyone else was laughing at those two.

**He lay on his bed reading late into the night,  
**"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" shouted Sirius.

**Hedwig swooping in and out of the open window as she pleased. It was lucky that Aunt Petunia didn't come in to vacuum anymore, because Hedwig kept bringing back dead mice. **

"Ha! Serves her right!" said Lily.

**Every night before he went to sleep, Harry ticked off another day on the piece of paper he had pinned to the wall, counting down to September the first. **

"Everyone does that though, not just you." Said Lily, everyone nodded.

**On the last day of August he thought he'd better speak to his aunt and uncle about getting to King's Cross station the next day, so he went down to the living room where they were watching a quiz show on television.**

"What's a television?" asked James. "What's a game show?" asked Sirius. "We'll tell you later." Said Lily.

** He cleared his throat to let them know he was there, and ****Dudley**** screamed and ran from the room. **

Everyone laughed at this picture, though Sirius thought it was quite disturbing.

"**Er — Uncle Vernon?" **

**Uncle Vernon grunted to show he was listening. **

"**Er — I need to be at King's Cross tomorrow to — to go to Hogwarts." **

**Uncle Vernon grunted again. **

"**Would it be all right if you gave me a lift?" **

**Grunt. Harry supposed that meant yes. **

"You should really wait for an actual answer, not just suppose it means yes." Said McGonagall.

"**Thank you." **

**He was about to go back upstairs when Uncle Vernon actually spoke. **

"**Funny way to get to a wizards' school, the train. Magic carpets all got punctures, have they?"**

"No, they're illegal, something about it being ostentatious." Said Remus, as if it were the most obvious things in the world. 

**Harry didn't say anything. **

"**Where is this school, anyway?" **

"**I don't know," said Harry, realizing this for the first time. He pulled the ticket Hagrid had given him out of his pocket. **

"**I just take the train from platform nine and three-quarters at ****eleven o'clock****," he read. **

**His aunt and uncle stared. **

Lily groaned, "Oh no Petunia, don't so this to Harry. He needs to be around wizards and witches since he's found out."

"**Platform what?" **

"**Nine and three-quarters." **

"**Don't talk rubbish," said Uncle Vernon. "There is no platform nine and three-quarters." **

James looked pissed off. "Petunia knows all about it, if she acts like this…. Oh I'm going to kill her."

"**It's on my ticket." **

"**Barking," said Uncle Vernon, "howling mad, the lot of them. You'll see. You just wait. All right, we'll take you to King's Cross. We're going up to ****London**** tomorrow anyway, or I wouldn't bother." **

"**Why are you going to ****London****?" Harry asked, trying to keep things friendly. **

"**Taking ****Dudley**** to the hospital," growled Uncle Vernon. "Got to have that ruddy tail removed before he goes to Smeltings."**

"Oh but it so completes his look," said Sirius.

**Harry woke at ****five o'clock**** the next morning and was too excited and nervous to go back to sleep.**

"I know the feeling," said James, "I couldn't wait to go. Even though I had been on the platform several times to see off my cousins. I couldn't wait to leave."

**He got up and pulled on his jeans because he didn't want to walk into the station in his wizard's robes — he'd change on the train. He checked his Hogwarts list yet again to make sure he had everything he needed, saw that Hedwig was shut safely in her cage, and then paced the room, waiting for the Dursleys to get up. **

**Two hours later, Harry's huge, heavy trunk had been loaded into the Dursleys' car, Aunt Petunia had talked ****Dudley**** into sitting next to Harry, and they had set off. They reached King's Cross at ****half past ten****. Uncle Vernon dumped Harry's trunk onto a cart and wheeled it into the station for him. Harry thought this was strangely kind until Uncle Vernon stopped dead, facing the platforms with a nasty grin on his face.**

"I knew they were going to do that," said Lily, "if only Petunia didn't hate me so much."

"**Well, there you are, boy. Platform nine — platform ten. Your platform should be somewhere in the middle, but they don't seem to have built it yet, do they?" **

James got up and punched the wall, again. This time he punched a hole in the wall. When he came back and sat down, Lily healed his fist than wrapped her arm around his waist.

**He was quite right, of course. There was a big plastic number nine over one platform and a big plastic number ten over the one next to it, and in the middle, nothing at all. **

"**Have a good term," said Uncle Vernon with an even nastier smile. He left without another word. Harry turned and saw the Dursleys drive away. All three of them were laughing.**

"Oh, I'm going to freakin' kill her! Oh I'm going to kill her. She is going to wish she was never born when I get done with her!" said Lily. 

**Harry's mouth went rather dry. What on earth was he going to do? He was starting to attract a lot of funny looks, because of Hedwig. He'd have to ask someone. He stopped a passing guard, but didn't dare mention platform nine and three-quarters. **

**The guard had never heard of Hogwarts and when Harry couldn't even tell him what part of the country it was in, he started to get annoyed, as though Harry was being stupid on purpose. Getting desperate, Harry asked for the train that left at ****eleven o'clock****, but the guard said there wasn't one. **

"Just wait for someone," said Lily, "That's what I did."

**In the end the guard strode away, muttering about time wasters. Harry was now trying hard not to panic. According to the large clock over the arrivals board, he had ten minutes left to get on the train to Hogwarts and he had no idea how to do it; he was stranded in the middle of a station with a trunk he could hardly lift, a pocket full of wizard money, and a large owl. **

**Hagrid must have forgotten to tell him something you had to do, like tapping the third brick on the left to get into Diagon Alley. He wondered if he should get out his wand and start tapping the ticket inspector's stand between platforms nine and ten.**

"No, then people will definitely start staring," said Dumbledore.

**At that moment a group of people passed just behind him and he caught a few words of what they were saying. **

"— **packed with Muggles, of course —" **

"That was quick," said Lily, "we got there an hour early and I didn't get onto the platform until about 10 minutes before the train left."

"** Harry swung round. The speaker was a plump woman who was talking to four boys, all with flaming red hair. **

"That sounds like Molly Weasley." Said McGonagall.

**Each of them was pushing a trunk like Harry's in front of him — and they had an _owl_. **

**Heart hammering, Harry pushed his cart after them. They stopped and so did he, just near enough to hear what they were saying. **

"**Now, what's the platform number?" said the boys' mother. **

"**Nine and three-quarters!" piped a small girl, also red-headed, who was holding her hand, "Mom, can't I go…"**

"Oh they finally had a girl," James cooed. Everyone stared at him. "Oh, James has a soft side," cooed Lily.

"**You're not old enough, Ginny, now be quiet. All right, Percy, you go first." **

**What looked like the oldest boy marched toward platforms nine and ten. **

**Harry watched, careful not to blink in case he missed it — but just as the boy reached the dividing barrier between the two platforms, a large crowd of tourists came swarming in front of him and by the time the last backpack had cleared away, the boy had vanished. **

"**Fred, you next," the plump woman said. **

"**I'm not Fred, I'm George," said the boy. "Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother? Can't you _tell _I'm George?"**

"Yes! Twins!" said Sirius.

"**Sorry, George, dear." **

"**Only joking, I am Fred," said the boy, and off he went.**

"And the twins are jokers!" said James.

**His twin called after him to hurry up, and he must have done so, because a second later, he had gone — but how had he done it? Now the third brother was walking briskly toward the barrier he was almost there — and then, quite suddenly, he wasn't anywhere. **

**There was nothing else for it. **

"**Excuse me," Harry said to the plump woman. **

"**Hello, dear," she said. "First time at Hogwarts? Ron's new, too."**

**She pointed at the last and youngest of her sons. He was tall, thin, and gangling, with freckles, big hands and feet, and a long nose. **

"That was your first impression of me?" "Yes, but you grew into your hands, feet and nose," laughed Harry. "What was your first impression of me?" "Fair point," said Ron, "I thought you needed a haircut, some food, and in serious need for some better fitting clothes."

"**Yes," said Harry. "The thing is — the thing is, I don't know how to —" **

"**How to get onto the platform?" she said kindly, and Harry nodded. **

"**Not to worry," she said. "All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Don't stop and don't be scared you'll crash into it, that's very important. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous. Go on, go now before Ron." **

"Awwwww, she's so sweet." Said Lily.

"**Er — okay," said Harry. **

**He pushed his trolley around and stared at the barrier. It looked very solid. **

**He started to walk toward it. People jostled him on their way to platforms nine and ten. Harry walked more quickly. He was going to smash right into that barrier and then he'd be in trouble — leaning forward on his cart, he broke into a heavy run — the barrier was coming nearer and nearer — he wouldn't be able to stop — the cart was out of control — he was a foot away — he closed his eyes ready for the crash — It didn't come… he kept on running… he opened his eyes. A scarlet steam engine was waiting next to a platform packed with people. A sign overhead said _Hogwarts' Express, _****_eleven o'clock_****. Harry looked behind him and saw a wrought-iron archway where the barrier had been, with the words _Platform Nine and Three-Quarters _on it, He had done it. **

"No duh" said Sirius.

**Smoke from the engine drifted over the heads of the chattering crowd, while cats of every color wound here and there between their legs. Owls hooted to one another in a disgruntled sort of way over the babble and the scraping of heavy trunks. **

**The first few carriages were already packed with students, some hanging out of the window to talk to their families, some fighting over seats. Harry pushed his cart off down the platform in search of an empty seat. He passed a round-faced boy who was saying, "Gran, I've lost my toad again." **

"Wow, if I were that kid I wouldn't be to upset about that," said Sirius.

"**Oh, _Neville_," he heard the old woman sigh. **

"Oh, it's you. Sorry," said Sirius. "Why are you with your grandmother?" asked Alice. "My parents were sort of occupied at the moment," said Neville.

**A boy with dreadlocks was surrounded by a small crowd. **

"**Give us a look, Lee, go on." **

**The boy lifted the lid of a box in his arms, and the people around him shrieked and yelled as something inside poked out a long, hairy leg. **

"I don't even want to know what that is," said Katy.

**Harry pressed on through the crowd until he found an empty compartment near the end of the train. He put Hedwig inside first and then started to shove and heave his trunk toward the train door. He tried to lift it up the steps but could hardly raise one end and twice he dropped it painfully on his foot. **

"Good job Harry," said James.

"**Want a hand?" It was one of the red-haired twins he'd followed through the barrier. **

"**Yes, please," Harry panted. **

"They're so nice," said Lily. Everyone from the future laughed.

"**Oi, Fred! C'mere and help!" **

**With the twins' help, Harry's trunk was at last tucked away in a corner of the compartment. **

"**Thanks," said Harry, pushing his sweaty hair out of his eyes. **

"**What's that?" said one of the twins suddenly, pointing at Harry's lightning scar. **

"**Blimey," said the other twin. "Are you —?" **

"**He is," said the first twin. "Aren't you?" he added to Harry. **

"**What?" said Harry. **

"**_Harry Potter_." chorused the twins. **

"**Oh, him," said Harry. **"**I mean, yes, I am." **

"`Oh him' you're a genius Harry," said James.

**The two boys gawked at him, and Harry felt himself turning red. Then, to his relief, a voice came floating in through the train's open door. **

"**Fred? George? Are you there?" **

"**Coming, Mum." **

**With a last look at Harry, the twins hopped off the train. **

**Harry sat down next to the window where, half hidden, he could watch the red-haired family on the platform and hear what they were saying. **

"You were spying on us Harry?" asked Ron. "Yeah, you were the first wizard family I had ever met. I found you interesting."

**Their mother had just taken out her handkerchief. **

"**Ron, you've got something on your nose." **

"You just had to notice that, didn't you?" asked Ron. "Yes, sometimes I can pay attention." He replied.

**The youngest boy tried to jerk out of the way, but she grabbed him and began rubbing the end of his nose. **

"**_Mom_**— **geroff" He wriggled free. **

"**Aaah, has ickle Ronnie got somefink on his nosie?" said one of the twins. **

"I love the twins!" Yelled Sirius. "WE KNOW!" everyone replied.

"**Shut up," said Ron. **

"**Where's Percy?" said their mother. **

"**He's coming now." **

**The oldest boy came striding into sight. He had already changed into his billowing black Hogwarts robes, and Harry noticed a red and gold badge on his chest with the letter _P _on it. **

"Ugh a prefect," said Sirius. "What's wrong with prefects?" asked Lily and Remus, Ron and Hermione, Albus and Minerva, and Severus.

"**Can't stay long, Mother," he said. "I'm up front; the prefects have got two compartments to themselves —" **

"**Oh, are you a _prefect_, Percy?" said one of the twins, with an air of great surprise. "You should have said something, we had no idea." **

"**Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it," said the other twin. "Once —" **

"**Or twice —" **

"**A minute —" **

"**All summer —" **

"I love-" Sirius started. "Sirius if you say that one more time, I'm going to hex you into next week."

"**Oh, shut up," said Percy the Prefect. **

"**How come Percy gets new robes, anyway?" said one of the twins. **

"**Because he's a _prefect_," said their mother fondly. "All right, dear, well, have a good term — send me an owl when you get there." **

**She kissed Percy on the cheek and he left. Then she turned to the twins. **

"**Now, you two — this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more owl telling me you've — you've blown up a toilet or —"**

"Don't give pranksters any ideas," said James. "It will backfire."

"**Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet." **

"**Great idea though, thanks, Mum." **

"See."

"**It's _not funny_. And look after Ron." **

"**Don't worry; ickle Ronniekins is safe with us." **

"**Shut up," said Ron again. He was almost as tall as the twins already and his nose was still pink where his mother had rubbed it. **

"**Hey, Mum, guess what? Guess who we just met on the train?" **

**Harry leaned back quickly so they couldn't see him looking. **

"**You know that black-haired boy who was near us in the station? Know who he is?" **

"**Who?" **

"**_Harry Potter_!" **

**Harry heard the little girl's voice. **

"**Oh, Mum, can I go on the train and see him, Mum, eh please…"**

"Oh Ginny's going to love that you heard that."

"**You've already seen him, Ginny, and the poor boy isn't something you goggle at in a zoo. Is he really, Fred? How do you know?" **

"**Asked him. Saw his scar. It's really there — like lightning." **

"**Poor _dear _**— **no wonder he was alone, I wondered. He was ever so polite when he asked how to get onto the platform." **

"**Never mind that, do you think he remembers what You-Know-Who looks like?" **

**Their mother suddenly became very stern. **

"**I forbid you to ask him, Fred. No, don't you dare. As though he needs reminding of that on his first day at school." **

"I think Molly and I are going to get along just fine," Lily whispered to James.

"**All right, keep your hair on." **

**A whistle sounded. **

"**Hurry up!" their mother said, and the three boys clambered onto the train. They leaned out of the window for her to kiss them good-bye, and their younger sister began to cry. **

"**Don't, Ginny, we'll send you loads of owls." **

"**We'll send you a Hogwarts' toilet seat."**

Everyone laughed, even Severus.

"**_George!_**"

"**Only joking, Mum." **

**The train began to move. Harry saw the boys' mother waving and their sister, half laughing, half crying, running to keep up with the train until it gathered too much speed, then she fell back and waved. **

"Oh, that's so cute," said Lily. "I wish my sister had done that."

**Harry watched the girl and her mother disappear as the train rounded the corner. Houses flashed past the window. Harry felt a great leap of excitement. He didn't know what he was going to — but it had to be better than what he was leaving behind. **

"Way to stay positive Harry."

**The door of the compartment slid open and the youngest redheaded boy came in. **

"**Anyone sitting there?" he asked, pointing at the seat opposite Harry. "Everywhere else is full." **

**Harry shook his head and the boy sat down. He glanced at Harry and then looked quickly out of the window, pretending he hadn't looked. Harry saw he still had a black mark on his nose. **

"Really, Harry? Really?" asked Ron. "Yes really."

"**Hey, Ron." **

**The twins were back. **

"**Listen, we're going down the middle of the train — Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there." **

"**Right," mumbled Ron. **

"**Harry," said the other twin, "did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley. And this is Ron, our brother. See you later, then." **

"**Bye," said Harry and Ron. The twins slid the compartment door shut behind them. **

"**Are you really Harry Potter?" Ron blurted out. **

**Harry nodded. **

"**Oh — well, I thought it might be one of Fred and George's jokes," said Ron. "And have you really got — you know…" **

"I thought Molly told you not to bring that up," said Lily. Ron smiled sheepishly. 

**He pointed at Harry's forehead. **

**Harry pulled back his bangs to show the lightning scar. Ron stared. **

"**So that's where You-Know-Who —?"**

"**Yes," said Harry, "but I can't remember it." **

"**Nothing?" said Ron eagerly. **

"**Well — I remember a lot of green light, but nothing else." **

Lily glared at Ron.

"**Wow," said Ron. He sat and stared at Harry for a few moments, then, as though he had suddenly realized what he was doing, he looked quickly out of the window again. **

"**Are all your family wizards?" asked Harry, who found Ron just as interesting as Ron found him. **

"**Er — Yes, I think so," said Ron. "I think Mum's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him."**

"That's horrible, why not?" asked Lily. "Well, every time he's around, he ruins everything, he's jealous that we are wizards and he's not. And vice versa."

"**So you must know loads of magic already." **

**The Weasleys were clearly one of those old wizarding families the pale boy in Diagon Alley had talked about. **

"**I heard you went to live with Muggles," said Ron. "What are they like?" **

"**Horrible — well, not all of them. My aunt and uncle and cousin are, though. Wish I'd had three wizard brothers." **

"**Five," said Ron. For some reason, he was looking gloomy. **

"**I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left — Bill was head boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch."**

"Charlie sounds alright but Bill not so much," said Sirius. "Bill is a curse breaker at Gringott's, and he's married to a French girl." "They both sound alright."

**"Now Percy's a prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first.**

"Oh, you poor thing," said Lily. "I think I did alright though. I helped Harry a lot." "That doesn't sound very good," said Lily.

**You never get anything new, either, with five brothers. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand, and Percy's old rat." **

**Ron reached inside his jacket and pulled out a fat gray rat, which was asleep.**

"Sounds like Pete," James whispered in Remus' ear.

"**His name's Scabbers and he's useless, he hardly ever wakes up. **

"Yep, definitely Peter. Why would Ron have him?" James said to Remus.

**Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a prefect, but they couldn't aff — I mean, I got Scabbers instead." **

**Ron's ears went pink. **

**He seemed to think he'd said too much, because he went back to staring out of the window. **

**Harry didn't think there was anything wrong with not being able to afford an owl. After all, he'd never had any money in his life until a month ago, and he told Ron so, all about having to wear ****Dudley****'s old clothes and never getting proper birthday presents. This seemed to cheer Ron up. **

"Ahhhh, Harry you're so sweet," cooed Lily.

"… **and until Hagrid told me, I didn't know anything about being a wizard or about my parents or Voldemort —" **

**Ron gasped. **

"**What?" said Harry. **

"**_You said You-Know-Who's name!_**" **said Ron, sounding both shocked and impressed. "I'd have thought you, of all people —" **

"Really Ron? Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself," said Lily. Ron, Harry, Hermione, and Neville started laughing. "What?" asked Lily. "Nothing, it's just you and Hermione think alike." "OH, so you found your Lily?" asked James. "Not yet," said Harry.

"**I'm not trying to be _brave _or anything, saying the name," said Harry, "I just never knew you shouldn't. See what I mean? I've got loads to learn… I bet,"**

"You should never fear a name Harry," chastised Lily.

** he added, voicing for the first time something that had been worrying him a lot lately, "I bet I'm the worst in the class." **

"Nope, normally the muggleborns are the best in the class, so you'll probably be included in that group," said James.

"**You won't be. There's loads of people who come from Muggle families and they learn quick enough." **

"See," said James.

**While they had been talking, the train had carried them out of ****London****. Now they were speeding past fields full of cows and sheep. They were quiet for a time, watching the fields and lanes flick past. **

**Around half past twelve there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door and said, "Anything off the cart, dears?" **

"Remus hit on her once," said Sirius. "What?" asked Harry. "We had been playing truth or dare," said Lily. "And we dared him to try and get some free food off the cart lady and so he flirted with her." Said Alice. "He got slapped because she had been quite a bit younger and she had an attitude." Said Frank. "She didn't stop by our compartment ever again," said Sirius. "Luckily, we were in seventh year, we put money on the cart and summoned some food," said James. "Shibby!" said Kat and Mariah. "Huh?" "Shibby, it can mean anything, anything good, if something is not cool, or not good, or boring we say not shibby." Explained Mariah, "We saw it on a movie once."

**Harry, who hadn't had any breakfast,**

"Why didn't you have any breakfast?" asked Lily. "I was too excited to eat," explained Harry.

** leapt to his feet, but Ron's ears went pink again and he muttered that he'd brought sandwiches. Harry went out into the corridor. **

**He had never had any money for candy with the Dursleys, and now that he had pockets rattling with gold and silver he was ready to buy as many Mars Bars as he could carry **— **but the woman didn't have Mars Bars. What she did have were Bettie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs. Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Licorice Wands, and a number of other strange things Harry had never seen in his life. Not wanting to miss anything, he got some of everything and paid the woman eleven silver Sickles and seven bronze Knuts. **

**Ron stared as Harry brought it all back in to the compartment and tipped it onto an empty seat. **

"**Hungry, are you?" **

"**Starving," said Harry, taking a large bite out of a pumpkin pasty. **

**Ron had taken out a lumpy package and unwrapped it. There were four sandwiches inside. He pulled one of them apart and said, "She always forgets I don't like corned beef…" **

"**Swap you for one of these," said Harry, holding up a pasty. "Go on —" **

"**You don't want this, it's all dry," said Ron. "She hasn't got much time," he added quickly, "you know, with five of us." **

"**Go on, have a pasty," said Harry, who had never had anything to share before or, indeed, anyone to share it with.**

"Awww, so sad," said Alice.

** It was a nice feeling, sitting there with Ron; eating their way through all Harry's pasties, cakes, and candies (the sandwiches lay forgotten). **

"**What are these?" Harry asked Ron, holding up a pack of Chocolate Frogs.**

"**They're not _really _frogs, are they?"**

"That's really gross," said Sirius, "I mean who would eat a real frog?" "You did in 4th year, I believe Padfoot," said James. "Ewwww," said Lily. "It was tiny and I thought it might taste good," said Sirius. "I don't remember that," said Remus. "It was in June sometime before school got out. We had snuck out of the castle for a moonlit swim." Mariah looked a little disgusted; she had been starting to like him. Kat leaned over and whispered in her ear, "It was when he was Padfoot, he let the dog part of his brain take over, dogs will eat anything." Sirius and Remus heard what she had said with there super keen hearing.

** He was starting to feel that nothing would surprise him. **

"**No," said Ron. "But see what the card is. I'm missing Agrippa." **

"**What?" **

"**Oh, of course, you wouldn't know**

"Ron, I can't believe you said that, he's already worried that he'll be the worst in class," said Minerva.

** — Chocolate Frogs have cards, inside them, you know, to collect — famous witches and wizards. I've got about five hundred, but I haven't got Agrippa or Ptolemy." **

**Harry unwrapped his Chocolate Frog and picked up the card. It showed a man's face. He wore half-moon glasses, had a long, crooked nose, and flowing silver hair, beard, and mustache. Underneath the picture was the name Albus Dumbledore. **

"**So _this _is Dumbledore!" said Harry.**

"Well duh," said James. "What did you think he would look like?" "Dad, I thought he would look like a fish." "Wow, you are seriously misguided," said Sirius. "He was being sarcastic Padfoot," said Peter. Harry had to sit on his hands to stop from hitting him.

"**Don't tell me you'd never heard of Dumbledore!" said Ron. "Can I have a frog? I might get Agrippa — thanks —" **

**Harry turned over his card and read: **

**_ALBUS DUMBLEDORE _**

**_CURRENTLY HEADMASTER OF HOGWARTS _**

**_Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling. _**

"I think that my chocolate card frog is my favorite accomplishment," said Dumbledore.

**Harry turned the card back over and saw, to his astonishment, that Dumbledore's face had disappeared. **

"**He's gone!" **

"**Well, you can't expect him to hang around all day," said Ron. **

"**He'll be back. No, I've got Morgana again and I've got about six of her… do you want it? You can start collecting." **

**Ron's eyes strayed to the pile of Chocolate Frogs waiting to be unwrapped. "Help yourself," said Harry. "But in, you know, the Muggle world, people just stay put in photos." **

"Really?" asked Frank. "Yep," said Ron.

"**Do they? What, they don't move at all?" Ron sounded amazed. "_Weird!" _**

**Harry stared as Dumbledore sidled back into the picture on his card and gave him a small smile. Ron was more interested in eating the frogs than looking at the Famous Witches and Wizards cards, but Harry couldn't keep his eyes off them. Soon he had not only Dumbledore and Morgana, but Hengist of Woodcroft, Alberic Grunnion, Circe, Paracelsus, and Merlin. He finally tore his eyes away from the Druidess Cliodna, who was scratching her nose, to open a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. **

"What happens when a person on a chocolate frog card dies?" asked Kat, "I've always wondered," "I'm not sure, but I think they stick around but I haven't looked at mine in years," answered James.

"**You want to be careful with those," Ron warned Harry. "When they say every flavor, they _mean _every flavor — you know, you get all the ordinary ones like chocolate and peppermint and marmalade, but then you can get spinach and liver and tripe. George reckons he had a bogie-flavored one once." **

"Fred said it, so I'm still not sure that was actually true," said Ron. Harry, Hermione, and Neville nodded.

**Ron picked up a green bean, looked at it carefully, and bit into a corner. **

"**Bleaaargh — see? Sprouts." **

"Urhg! That's disgusting," said Peter. Harry had to bite his lip to keep from saying that Peter was disgusting also.

**They had a great time eating the Every Flavor Beans. Harry got toast, coconut, baked bean, strawberry, curry, grass, coffee, sardine, and was even brave enough to nibble the end off a funny gray one Ron wouldn't touch, which turned out to be pepper. **

"It actually wasn't that bad. I mean it could have been worse, I mean I could have gotten a bogey flavored one," said Harry.

**The countryside now flying past the window was becoming wilder. The neat fields had gone. Now there were woods, twisting rivers, and dark green hills. **

"I've always loved the scenery on the way to Hogwarts," said Lily, "It's so green and peaceful, the city is just too noisy." "I agree, well except about the part on the way to Hogwarts, never actually rode the train before," said Kat. "I grew up in the country from when I was 2-11. Then we moved to the "city", if you could call it a city. Then when we got our own house, we're back in the country again and I can see the stars. It makes me happy." Shelby rolled her eyes. "Kat, you are so strange." "That's hilarious coming from you, Shelbs. You are the strangest person I know."

**There was a knock on the door of their compartment and the round-faced boy Harry had passed on platform nine and three-quarters came in. He looked tearful. **

"**Sorry," he said, "but have you seen a toad at all?" **

**When they shook their heads, he wailed, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!" **

"Why is he so upset? It's a frog. He can go catch another one by the lake," said Sirius, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"**He'll turn up," said Harry. **

"**Yes," said the boy miserably. "Well, if you see him…" **

**He left. **

"**Don't know why he's so bothered," said Ron. "If I'd brought a toad I'd lose it as quick as I could. Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can't talk." **

Neville looked at Ron, "Thanks Ron, that's real nice." "Look Neville, if you reread the sentence I also insulted my pet."

**The rat was still snoozing on Ron's lap. **

"**He might have died and you wouldn't know the difference," said Ron in disgust. "I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn't work. I'll show you, look…" **

**He rummaged around in his trunk and pulled out a very battered-looking wand. It was chipped in places and something white was glinting at the end. **

"**Unicorn hair's nearly poking out. Anyway —" **

**He had just raised his wand when the compartment door slid open again. The toadless boy was back, but this time he had a girl with him. She was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes. **

"**Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth.**

James, Sirius and Peter were laughing at the image. "That was your first thought of me Harry?" asked Hermione. "Well, I didn't know you then, and it was true. The only difference is now you don't have big teeth." "Harry! That is not how you treat a girl, especially one of your friends," scolded Lily. "Oh, Ron and I tease her all the time, and she normally shoots a comment right back. Normally, for me, it's laughing at my hair," replied Harry.

"**We've already told him we haven't seen it," said Ron, but the girl wasn't listening, she was looking at the wand in his hand. **

"**Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then." **

"Yes, very bossy," said Sirius, Frank had to agree with him.

**She sat down. Ron looked taken aback. **

"**Er — all right." **

**He cleared his throat. **

"**Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."**

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" asked Lily.

**He waved his wand, but nothing happened. Scabbers stayed gray and fast asleep. **

"**Are you sure that's a real spell?" said the girl.  
**Everyone laughed, "Hey Harry, you found your Lily." "Not exactly, more like my Remus."

**"Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard — I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough — I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?" **

"Do you ever breathe?" asked Sirius. "When I want to."

**She said all this very fast. **

**Harry looked at Ron, and was relieved to see by his stunned face that he hadn't learned all the course books by heart either. **

"I hadn't learned them by heart," said Hermione. "Bet you tried though," said Ron. Hermione didn't comment.

"**I'm Ron Weasley," Ron muttered. **

"**Harry Potter," said Harry. **

"**Are you really?" said Hermione. **

"**I know all about you, of course — I got a few extra books, for background reading, and you're in _Modern Magical History _and _The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts _and _Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century_." **

"Dude, you're in all those books and you haven't even made it to school yet," said Sirius. "I would rather have been a nobody," said Harry.

"**Am I?" said Harry, feeling dazed. **

"**Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me," said Hermione. "Do either of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad… **

"Trust me, you'll be in Ravenclaw," said Sirius. "Why?" asked Remus, "I wasn't and she sounds almost exactly like me." This time Sirius didn't comment.

**Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You two had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon." **

**And she left, taking the toadless boy with her. **

"**Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," said Ron. **

**He threw his wand back into his trunk. "Stupid spell — George gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud." **

"**What house are your brothers in?" asked Harry. **

"**Gryffindor," said Ron. Gloom seemed to be settling on him again. **

"Why would you be sad about that? At least your family legacy is in a good house," said Sirius. "Because I had everyone in my family to live up to, being the youngest boy isn't at all what it's cracked up to be." "Well, Ron, I think you beat all your brothers." Said Harry, Ron smiled sheepishly.

**"Mom and Dad were in it, too. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not. I don't suppose Ravenclaw _would _be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin." **

"**That's the house Vol-, I mean; You-Know-Who was in?" **

"**Yeah," said Ron. He flopped back into his seat, looking depressed. **

"**You know, I think the ends of Scabbers' whiskers are a bit lighter," said Harry, trying to take Ron's mind off houses. **

"**So what do your oldest brothers do now that they've left, anyway?" **

**Harry was wondering what a wizard did once he'd finished school. **

"Uh, they get jobs," said James.

"**Charlie's in Romania studying dragons, and Bill's in Africa doing something for Gringotts," said Ron. **

"**Did you hear about Gringotts? It's been all over the _Daily Prophet_, but I don't suppose you get that with the Muggles — someone tried to rob a high security vault." **

**Harry stared. **

"**Really? What happened to them?" **

"**Nothing, that's why it's such big news. They haven't been caught. **

Everyone, from the past stared at Ron, open mouthed. "How? It's impossible to rob Gringotts." Harry leaned over to Ron and said, "Maybe someone should've told us this."

**My dad says it must've been a powerful Dark wizard to get round Gringotts, but they don't think they took anything, that's what's odd. 'Course, everyone gets scared when something like this happens in case You-Know-Who's behind it." **

**Harry turned this news over in his mind. He was starting to get a prickle of fear every time You-Know-Who was mentioned. He supposed this was all part of entering the magical world, but it had been a lot more comfortable saying "Voldemort" without worrying. **

"**What's your Quidditch team?" Ron asked. **

"**Er — I don't know any." Harry confessed.**

"**What!" Ron looked dumbfounded. "Oh, you wait, it's the best game in the world —" And he was off, explaining all about the four balls and the positions of the seven players, describing famous games he'd been to with his brothers and the broomstick he'd like to get if he had the money. He was just taking Harry through the finer points of the game when the compartment door slid open yet again, but it wasn't Neville the toadless boy, or Hermione Granger this time. **

**Three boys entered, and Harry recognized the middle one at once: it was the pale boy from Madam Malkin's robe shop. **

**He was looking at Harry with a lot more interest than he'd shown back in Diagon Alley. **

"**Is it true?" he said. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?" **

"Harry don't befriend him, it'll get you into loads of trouble," said Lily. "I think that I might have gotten into a little less trouble if I would've been friends with him."

"**Yes," said Harry. He was looking at the other boys. Both of them were thickset and looked extremely mean. Standing on either side of the pale boy, they looked like bodyguards. **

"**Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said the pale boy carelessly, noticing where Harry was looking. "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy." **

"I knew it. Malfoy had a kid. Let me guess, he's my cousin or something like that. Narcissus is his mother?"

**Ron gave a slight cough, which might have been hiding a snigger. Draco Malfoy looked at him. **

"**Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford." **

"There is NOTHING wrong with the Weasley's!" said Lily.

**He turned back to Harry. "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there." **

"Don't become friends with him Harry!" said Sirius, a little over dramatically.

**He held out his hand to shake Harry's, but Harry didn't take it. **

"**I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks," he said coolly. **

**Draco Malfoy didn't go red, but a pink tinge appeared in his pale cheeks. **

"**I'd be careful if I were you, Potter," he said slowly. "Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them, either.** **You hang around with riffraff like the Weasleys and that Hagrid, and it'll rub off on you." **

This made everyone from the past, including McGonagall, Dumbledore, and Severus, mad. Everyone was yelling then, "There is NOTHING wrong with Lily or Hagrid," yelled Severus. Everyone quieted down, "What about me?" asked James. "I still think you're riff-raff. You were cruel to me, and you tried to get me killed in 5th year." "WHAT!" yelled Lily. "I know that you didn't like him, but trying to get him killed, you are cruel! What did I ever see in you?" "No Lily! I didn't try to get him killed, he forgot to mention who saved him. I did. And I didn't try to get him killed, Sirius did. As soon as I found out what Sirius did I went and saved Severus." "Guys! Stop fighting!" yelled Harry. "What Dad is saying is the truth." "But how did Sirius try to get him killed?" asked Alice. "That will be explained later on." Said Harry, Remus instantly paled, he didn't want Alice, Frank and Lily finding out the truth.

**Both Harry and Ron stood up. **

"**Say that again," Ron said, his face as red as his hair.**

"**Oh, you're going to fight us, are you?" Malfoy sneered. **

"Oh boy, you'll get in trouble before you even get to Hogwarts," said Lily.

"**Unless you get out now," said Harry, more bravely than he felt, because Crabbe and Goyle were a lot bigger than him or Ron. **

"**But we don't feel like leaving, do we, boys? We've eaten all our food and you still seem to have some." **

**Goyle reached toward the Chocolate Frogs next to Ron — Ron leapt forward, but before he'd so much as touched Goyle, Goyle let out a horrible yell. **

**Scabbers the rat was hanging off his finger, sharp little teeth sunk deep into Goyle's knuckle**— **Crabbe and Malfoy backed away as Goyle swung Scabbers round and round, howling, and when Scabbers finally flew off and hit the window, all three of them disappeared at once. Perhaps they thought there were more rats lurking among the sweets, or perhaps they'd heard footsteps, because a second later, Hermione Granger had come in.**

"Haha! Goyle got what he deserves!" said Lily.

"**What _has _been going on?" she said, looking at the sweets all over the floor and Ron picking up Scabbers by his tail. **

"**I think he's been knocked out," Ron said to Harry. He looked closer at Scabbers. "No — I don't believe it — he's gone back to sleep." **

**And so he had. **

"**You've met Malfoy before?" **

**Harry explained about their meeting in Diagon Alley. **

"**I've heard of his family," said Ron darkly. "They were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they'd been bewitched. My dad doesn't believe it. He says Malfoy's father didn't need an excuse to go over to the Dark Side."**

"That's no lie. Malfoy was planning on joining the death eaters our first year, he was in his 7th year."

**He turned to Hermione. "Can we help you with something?" **

"**You'd better hurry up and put your robes on, I've just been up to the front to ask the conductor, and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there!"**

"Are you sure that isn't your Lily? She acts exactly like her," said James.

"**Scabbers has been fighting, not us," said Ron, scowling at her. "Would you mind leaving while we change?" **

"**All right — I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors," said Hermione in a sniffy voice. **"**And you've got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?"**

**Ron glared at her as she left. Harry peered out of the window. It was getting dark. He could see mountains and forests under a deep purple sky. The train did seem to be slowing down. **

**He and Ron took off their jackets and pulled on their long black robes. Ron's were a bit short for him, you could see his sneakers underneath them. **

"Again, really?"

**A voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train; it will be taken to the school separately." **

**Harry's stomach lurched with nerves and Ron, he saw, looked pale under his freckles. They crammed their pockets with the last of the sweets and joined the crowd thronging the corridor. **

**The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way toward the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. Harry shivered in the cold night air. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and Harry heard a familiar voice: "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Harry?" **

**Hagrid's big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads. **

"**C'mon, follow me — any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!" **

**Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Harry thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Neville, the boy who kept losing his toad, sniffed once or twice. **

"**Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here." **

**There was a loud "Oooooh!" **

**The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers. **

"**No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Harry and Ron were followed into their boat by Neville and Hermione. **

"If you didn't like them, why did you follow them?" asked Severus. "They were the only people I knew," said Hermione.

"**Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. "Right then — FORWARD!" **

**And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood. **

"**Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles. **

"If he says 'Heads down' does that mean he has to bend all the way over?" asked Kaitlyn. "yeah, pretty much."

"**Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" said Hagrid, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them. **

"**Trevor!" cried Neville blissfully, holding out his hands. Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle. **

**They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door. **

"**Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?" **

**Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.**

"That's the end, who wants to read next?" "I do!" said Kat, through a yawn. "But maybe we should go to bed first." Everyone nodded their heads and the room enlarged to be big enough to hold 18 twin beds. Before they went to bed Mariah pulled Sirius and James off to the side where no one would hear them, "Hey, Kat's birthday is tomorrow. Can you sneak to the kitchens and have the house elves make some cake, chocolate would be best, and ice cream? Then have them send it up here with 15 candles in it?" "Sure. Hey does she get scared easily?" asked Sirius. "No, why?" "You'll see."

**Sorry it's taken so long to update. When you don't have a good computer, you have to share the computer that doesn't work very well, and you're tired all the time, it takes a while to update.**


	8. Author's note 2

Alright, so i'm working on updating, but i have excuses:

1. homework, 2. swim practice, 3. slow computer, 4. don't have my own computer.


	9. Surprise Party

**After everyone had gone to bed, Sirius and James got up, grabbed the Marauders Map and James' invisibility cloak and quietly left the room. "Sirius! Get on the wall. Filch is coming," said James. Once Filch had passed they continued down to the kitchens. **

** "Why were you wondering if Kat got scared easily?" James asked Sirius. "Oh just a creative way to wake Kat up." Answered Sirius, he got a huge grin on his face and whispered the plan in James' ear. James started grinning. **

** They got to the kitchens and the house elves swarmed to get their orders. "I need 3 chocolate cakes with chocolate icing, 18 butterbeers and chocolate, and vanilla ice cream, and send it to the Room of Requirement tomorrow morning around 9:30 please," said James. The house elves obliged, and then James and Sirius went up to their dorms to grab stuff to wake Kat up and went back to the RoR, and went to sleep after getting the prank ready to go. **

** Around ****9:00**** the next morning Kat got woken up by someone yelling now and then balloons dropping on her head, except for water there was eggnog. "MARIAH! YOU ARE SO DEAD!" Kat yelled. "Kat, I wouldn't do that. We are heavily armed; you are in pajamas and covered in eggnog." "Then I have nothing to lose." Kat started chasing Mariah around the RoR, while people were throwing more balloons at her. Finally, Lily threw one at hit Kat, but instead of eggnog, it was full of toothpaste. **

** "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" everyone yelled. Kat just glared at them. Then, a table with cake, ice cream, and butterbeer on it popped up. Then another table with 14 presents, one from each person, popped up. Lily and Minerva cleaned Kat up with their wands and they all had cake and ice cream and butterbeer.**

** After they ate Kat opened her presents. She got Honeyduke's chocolate from Remus, a Gryffindor stocking cap from James, a Gryffindor scarf from Sirius, some Gryffindor gloves from Peter, Hogwarts a History from Harry, Ron, Neville and Hermione, a Slytherin scarf from Severus, a necklace from Lily, Frank and Alice, and a broach with the Hogwarts crest on it from Dumbledore and Minerva. And from Mariah, Shelby and Kaitlyn she got a Harry Potter Wallet. (**A.N. I've always wanted a HP wallet**)  
"Kat, would you like a tour of Hogwarts?" asked Dumbledore. "Heck yes!" "Well I think the Marauders wouldn't mind giving you a tour, along with the rest of your group of course." The 4 girls beamed at each other. "I think us teachers will stay here to make sure Ms. Evans and Mr. Snape don't kill each other though." **

** "I think it would be best if we split into group," James said as they left the RoR. "Kat you can choose the groups. Seeing it's your bday and all." "Okay, I'll go with James, Riah, you go with Sirius, Katy, you can go with Remus and Shelby with Peter."**

** "We'll start in the Dungeons and work our way up," said James, "Remus start here and work your way down, Sirius, dungeons up, Pete, here down." Everyone went their own separate ways, Sirius started up a conversation with Mariah and decided she was the exact opposite of him, and that she was perfect for him. And that is how they ended up with his arm around her waist, pulling her to him and he kissing her sweetly, and then they had a full on make out session.**

** Kat and James went through the tour, with Kat giving James tips on how to get Lily to go out with him. "Just don't pull pranks, be nice to people, lay off asking her out. Be the exact opposite of yourself, well at least the James she thinks you are." **

** Remus and Kaitlyn's tour went by quietly just him telling her what everything was.**

** Shelby and Peter's tour was interesting, he was freaked because she kept telling him to shut up, she glared at him every time he looked at her, and she slapped him "accidentally" every time she got the chance.**

** Everyone got back to the RoR about 2 hours later and they decided to read the next chapter.**

**So I updated. Working on the next chapter!**


	10. Author's Note 3

**So, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, sorry I haven't updated in forever. I know a lot of people use the excuse I'm busy but I am truly busy, lately I have been at school longer than I have been at home. 12 hours a day at least, sometimes longer. But Thanksgiving is this week, I have no practice and I should be able to update tomorrow, if not, again, sorry.**


	11. Question?

**Just wondering, what if I quit writing on this story and then picked on on like the 3rd book. This one I find really boring, and difficult for me to write. Send me a message or leave a comment with your thoughts please.**


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